laughing at thunder
by Envious sky
Summary: The past of an Elite four champion had always been wrought with perils,lola is of no exception. Her journey had been filled with dilemmas all caused by a mysterious enemy that she would never have suspected.
1. prologue

**i love this story, and i don't really like pokemon anymore. i created it in year three. so if their is anything that seems extremely stupid in this, expect it because an 9 year old created it. but it has been improved over the years of course, so it's not entirely retarded. i love some of the characters in this story, they always make me remember the awesome days i spent when i was in year 3, which were awesome most the time. i forgot the names of characters in this so i just renamed them after who created them, but some may have already had that name in the first place, i don't remember. Lola and Char were my first OCs, and i love them, so they NEEDED a story, and here it is. enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: don't own pokemon**

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><p><span>1 prologue<span>

"Flozion" Lola screamed out his name as she watched her Typhlosion crash into the ground.

The Vaporeon he had been versing had finally landed a tackle on Flozion, which from all it's previous attacks, he was weak enough for it to make him lose.

Lola returned him to his poke ball, keeping her anger under control, the smug look on her opponents face was not helping things, and her Vaporeon shared the look, were they trying to piss her off on purpose?

Guessing what she was thinking wasn't very hard, Lola was good at that, she had experience.

It would have been something like "oh wow she's so predictable, just all fire types, overloading with water for the win"

Well you know what girl, screw you; I'm not a member of the elite four for nothing you know!

Time for my fantastic little trick!

Lola took out her poke ball that contained her last Pokemon; she raised it up, swung it and let go screaming "Fantastic, get out here"

She smiled at the reaction her opponent showed when she caught sight of the Meganium on the other side of the arena.

Oh ho! And that Vaporeon's the last she has, Flozion wared it down and Fantastics gonna finish the job.

"Hey what the hell you doing! I thought you only used fire types"

"Did you forget who your versing kiddo? I am the fourth of the elite four, second strongest person in the whole of the Kiki region. Don't expect me to be so predictable, I'm amazed you've even gotten as far as you have, but now it's over, prepare to get your butt kicked by my fantastic little trick!"

Lola gave fantastic a wink and the Meganium took off and charged ahead at the vaporeon, it retaliated by using water gun, not even waiting to be ordered to do so, showing that it to had the same want to win as it's trainer.

Fantastic jumped clear out of the firing line and used vine whip while still suspended in the air. It spun around the Vaporeons legs and took it off its feet slamming it to the ground; but the force wasn't enough to knock it out.

So when Fantastic landed she pulled her opponent forward and flung it across the room. It landed with a thud making the dirt raise with the force, as it cleared the Vaporeon was shown to have fainted.

"Vaporeon!" Lola's distressed opponent called from her side.

Reluctantly she returned it to its poke ball. She didn't care to hide how upset she was About losing, she'd gotten so close only to lose.

"Damn it"

Lola had to admit, though she was happy about winning, she did feel a little sorry for the girl. She could remember when she had versed the league for the first time and lost, to put it blunt, it sucked, probably never felt worse.

"Better luck next time kiddo, I lost first time too, but look where I am now. You can have another go, and maybe that time you'll succeed. Don't give up from one crappy battle."

Ha ha, omg look at her face, did she just think I was some winning obsessed bitch? (Though I do admit to having an unhealthy winning obsessing)

She totally didn't expect me to say that.

"Um, thanks? I guess your right. I can just have another go"

"Sure you can, but maybe just train some more first, you had some serious trouble fighting me, and the champions stronger, so don't think that you're going to beat her by being lucky. Keep in mind that Kiki regions league is way stronger than the others, I'm amazed that you got this far first go, and I'm not just saying that!"

"Really! Thank you!"

Ah, now she can hear the compliment.

"Oh, but one question, if I may?"

"Sure what?"

"Well, that Charmeleon behind you, why didn't you use him? He's just been sitting there. Why so?"

"Hmmm Char?"

Lola turned around to look at the scowling Pokemon.

"Oh, I'm not allowed to use him, that's all" she explained cheerfully.

"Why?"

"You're not from around here are you?" Lola had a hint of a laugh in her voice; she was trying with all her might not to.

"What's so funny?" she was asked again, but this time it sounded angry.

"Remember how I said that this league is heaps stronger than the rest? Well I have a strong team and I weak team, I used my weak team against you. Char is the strongest in my other one. He's like the strongest non legendary pokemon in the whole region, maybe even the world, it's illegal to use him" Lola announced with a happy smile consuming her face.

"What?"

Lola's opponent left probably the most confused she been in a long time. She'd been mumbling something along the lines that "this girl is weird" or something like that. Lola was to busy hugging/ dancing with Fantastic to hear.

"Oh Fan that was so awesome, I didn't even need to tell you what to do!"

"Megi Megi!" she joined in as they danced around the arena.

Char remained in the corner, his permanent scowl on his face as always. He was the first to notice that two other people had walked in the room, but as Lola and Fantastic were far too busy celebrating, it was up to him to greet the visitors.

"Hi Char, been awhile hah?" the older girl greeted him as he walked over, shaking his hand like he was person, which was how he acted, for he was the mature one out of him and Lola. They were an inseparable pair, despite being such opposites, but as people say "opposites attract"

"Lola's busy I see" she asked

"Charr" he sighed then nodded, folding his arms, he looked back to see that the other two still hadn't noticed their visitors.

"Big sis isn't very smart is she, blast" the younger girl asked the squirtle in her arms.

"Squirt" it giggled.

It took that much time before Lola noticed, which didn't help with the fact that she was thought to be quite stupid, but as Char had noticed, she was just a bit of an airhead sometimes.

"Oh my freaking God!"

Lola almost ran up to the older girl

"KIRA!"

She hugged her and almost knocked the blonde off her feet.

"God, l haven't seen you in years! How long has it been?"

Kira had trouble speaking from how hard her friend was holding her.

"It's been about three, but uh Lola, think you could let go? Can't breath"

"Oh sorry" she released her grip.

"It's just been so long, I had to!"

"Yeah I understand, it has been a long time. I had real trouble finding you, I had to use Samus" she pointed to the younger black haired girl with the squirtle in her arms.

"Oh I didn't notice you there! Hey stupid of me, sorry Samus"

"It's alright, you're an airhead and Kira's more important than me right now, so it's alright big sis"

Didn't have to say airhead

"So why did you want to see me?"

"Why, I haven't for three years! Isn't that reason enough?"

"Yeah, I guess, so did you visit Alex too?"

"Yeah, I can't believe that you two are in the Elite Four, and Sania's the champion! Bet you feel proud for your big sister right?"

"Imm, she's really amazing"

Lola's expression didn't show that she meant what she said.

"But you know what" Kira spoke up "I think that you should be the champ, you've always tried so hard to be the best"

"Maybe, but Sania's it for now, I might be one day, but not today."

"Well you shouldn't give up; six years ago you were just a girl that was best friends with a Charmeleon that wouldn't stop walking into the woods, and now your one of the strongest pokemon trainers in the world."

"Times sure I strange thing hah?"

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><p><strong>i promise that Samus is not named after Samus Aran, she's just named after my character on pearl that's named after Samus wait, that still means she's named after Samus Aran<strong>

**review and you shall receive a cookie, somehow.**


	2. brother

**it's good that when i finally feel like updating the holidays started. the bad thing is that my stories need more planning out, so i might not right more of REI for awhile, i should be able to write the next chp of depression soon, i can't write more of dreams until i have a dream that makes enough sense to be able to write it, and i'm not updating wings of regret till i get me laptop, it's planned out enough back i don't want to write it right now. anyway. enjoy the second chapter of Laughing at thunder (though this is technically the first cause the last one was a prologue)**

**Disclaimer:i no own pokemon**

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><p><span>2 brother<span>

**11 years earlier.**

Five year old Lola tiptoed up to the couch to find her Charmander fast asleep.

The impatient girl didn't want to wait for him to wake up.

"Char" she whispered as she shook him "wanna go to the woods, you promised." Her voice was grumpy.

Char's eyes fluttered open before he could take notice of reality to see Lola glaring at him.

"Cha?" he asked.

"We going to woods like you promised gotta go before mummy wake up."

He managed at a small nod before being lifted up by Lola and carried outside.

He was too big for her to carry for long so when he woke up fully that changed to him walking hand in hand towards the woods.

Acacia town, which was their home, had an odd little tradition, where when there was a baby, they would be given a Pokemon egg from Lumi woods, that surrounded the small living area. The woods were a mysterious place that not many ever dared go near; the only place that was commonly visited was the Life plain. It was directly in the middle of the forest, nobody dared go off the path that led to it, not many dared to walk across it at all. The woods were almost terrifying to everyone that knew of it's existence, the only place in it that didn't create fear was the Life plains. It was a wide area filled with Pokemon eggs; nobody knew what Pokemon had laid them, or how they all got to the same place, that was another mystery of Lumi woods.

The eggs from the plain were given to families who would soon have a new baby. The Pokemon that hatched would be for the new family member, it would stay with them for life. Person and Pokemon would have a tremendous bond, they would have no one closer than each other, and it had been that way for longer than anyone could remember.

Lola was thought to be either amazingly brave or just plain stupid. She and Char went into the forest again and again; always getting themselves hurt in someway, they were quite often rescued by Lola's older brother (almost ever time)

One time they fell in a pond, as Lola couldn't swim yet and Char was even more hopeless, they would have died if her brother hadn't found them.

Char was the Pokemon that Lola had been given when she was born, it was a little obvious if you took a close look, because they really were close. But their personalities were nothing alike, which wasn't very common in pairs like them. But all well "opposites attract"

An odd thing about them though, even though people were given the eggs when the baby was close to being born, they usually weren't born in the same day. But Char and Lola were, and in the same hour, and in the same minute. It was really a shock when it happened.

This time Lola and Char's trip took them to a small area just east of the life plains, they could see some of the eggs through the trees.

It was cold out and Lola only had a top on, but she was so distracted trying to find the banging noise that she didn't even take notice that she was freezing.

The culprit of the noise was a Pikachu that was smashing a rock on an even bigger rock; they snuck up to him and got really close before he noticed them.

He bounced back and prepared to tackle them. He either was brave or stupid because he was by far the smallest here. He jumped at Lola but was hit back by Char, who was protecting her. He pounced again but was again hit back by the Charmander. He wasn't getting the hint that it was pointless to keep attacking because he was failing to land a hit on either Charmander or kid.

The next time he jumped at them he went lower and Char barely managed to block him from getting to Lola, he caused the Pikachu a cut on it's foot. He couldn't get back up to continue his attack then. Even though he was just attacking them Lola felt bad for the little thing. She walked up closer to where it was limping. Lucky for her it decided against attacking her.

"Char you didn't have to hit it so hard, you gave it a boo boo."

Lola picked it up and moved it into a comfortable position in her arms,

"Come on Mummy's going ta help"

She didn't see the slightly annoyed look that Char gave her; he found it stupid that Lola was now helping a Pokemon that was previously attacking her.

They walked back to the town hand in hand, with Lola keeping hold of the Pikachu as best she could in the other.

When they arrived home Lola's mum ran up to her panicking

"Lola did you go in the forest again! You could have been hurt!" the brown haired woman yelled at her.

"But I wasn't, this Pikachu was"

Lola held him up for her mum to see.

"Why do you have a Pikachu?" her mother asked in curiosity.

"Cause Char hurt him and now we need to help him"

Her mother gave her a stare "need to help him? Why did char hurt him in the first place?"

"Cause he wanted to attack me and Char was being a good brother"

"You got attacked by a Pikachu!"

"No, Char attacked a Pikachu" Lola was too young to understand the problems in the situation.

Lola's mother held a hand to her face. She was always having trouble with  
>Lola, her big brother and sister had never caused as much trouble as her.<p>

"Fine we will help it"

"He"

"How do you know it's a 'he'?"

"Because I think he is"

Her Mum turned away, leaving to get some help.

'This isn't healthy, pregnant woman shouldn't be dealing with stuff like this. Lola needs to stop all this stuff"

When her mum walked up the stairs she found her son and youngest daughter staring at the TV next to their Pokemon.

"Muhro, could you help me, Lola brang an injured Pikachu into the house"

The nine year old turned to face his mum,

"An injured Pikachu?" he asked.

"Yes, she found it in the forest, now could you come help me?"

"But what about Samus?" referring to the two year old in his lap

"It's alright, Blast and Scarlet will make sure she doesn't doing anything bad" she talked about the Squirtle and poochyena next to him.

"Alright" he looked down at the girl who was still focused on the TV

"I'm just going away for a bit, but I'll be back soon"

She smiled at him as a reply.

He took her off his lap and rested on the floor before getting up and going downstairs with his mum to go see Lola's Pikachu.

They found her sitting on the couch with Char next to her, she had the Pikachu in her lap, she was talking to him really fast, they had trouble making out what she was saying, and their weren't sure whether the Pikachu could at all.

She looked up and smiled at them when they reached the bottom of the steps.

"Look Sparky, they're gonna help you now!"

"You gave it a name!" Muhro laughed.

"Him, and yes I did give him a name, why not?"

"Well you can't keep it"

"Why not" Lola complained.

"It's a Pikachu that tried to attack you, you are not going to keep him" her mother answered.

"Why not?" she continued complaining,

"Didn't I already explain that?"

"Awwww"

"Shouldn't we be helping the Pikachu?" Muhro chipped in.

"Ah, yes we should" their mother said.

Muhro took him from Lola and took a look at his foot.

"It's not bad enough that it needs to go to a Pokemon centre, we can treat it here"

"Can I keep it?" Lola begged, pulling at his pant's leg.

"Mum already said no, sorry Lol"

"You're stupid" she grumbled.

"That didn't make any sense, now stop clinging to me so I can help it"

"He"

"Alright 'he'"

Muhro left with to go kind some first aid supplies to heal the Pikachu's injury with.

He came back in then sat them down on the table; he put the Pikachu on the table and got to work.

He cleaned the cut before wrapping a bandage around it. The Pikachu tried to get up but fell right back down. Lola ran up the table and hopped up on her toes to see over the top,

"Sparky, you can't walk yet, foot's still hurt"

Muhro patted her head then packed up and went back up the stairs. He was good at taking care of Pokemon, he had improved mainly from taking care of Char (who had gotten injured on one of Lola's many, many trips into the forest) and from taking care of his Poochyena, Scarlet, who had a bad habit of getting herself hurt.

Lola took the Pikachu off the table and sat back down on the couch with it, Talking to it again in her super fast talk that nobody but Char could understand.

"Just understand that when it gets better you have to let it go" her mum told her.

"But I don't wont to" She answered

"You have to; kids don't get to make the rules."

Her mum left to make lunch after making sure that Lola was alright by herself.

"Do you want to leave Sparky? If you stay you can live with me and we will have a great time, and I'll make sure that Char apologises for hurting you"

The Pikachu didn't make any sign that he wanted to or not, and Char gave Lola a look that told her he thought it was a little stupid what she had just said, he was thinking something along the lines of, I hurt him to protect you, Lola was good at telling what he was thinking from just seeing his expression.

"What's with the Pikachu?"

Lola looked up to see her older sister Sania and her Evee near the door staring straight at them.

"His name is Sparky and I'm looking after him" Lola answered Sania.

Sania and Evee walked up to the couch,

"Why?" Sania asked.

"Because his hurt and I can"

"Did mum let you?"

"Yep" she smiled

"Really?"

"Yes

"Really"

"Yes"

"Now why don't I believe you?"

"Cause you suck"

"Hey" Sania yelled at her younger sister.

"Ha ha" Lola laughed.

"You suck"

Sania punched Lola on the arm and left with Evee.

Lola rubbed her now sore arm, Sania hadn't punched that hard, she hadn't meant to, but it was still a mean act to her little sister.

"Sania's mean isn't she Char?"

"Cha" he agreed.

"And it's only to me; she's all nice near people, not me, just others"

"Cha"

Just as her mum had said Lola was forced to give Sparky away when he got better, she complained loudly but it didn't help anything. But through the years on hers and Char's trips into Lumi woods, they ran into him every now and then, sometimes he would play with them, but if he was bored he would throw objects at Char, he was aware that he wouldn't actually cause any damage to him, he caught it every time. It was from all their 'fights' that gave Char enough strength to evolve into a Charmeleon, Lola and Sparky joined in a dance of celebration, Char watched, that kind of thing wasn't for him, he never once joined in with Lola's dances. Lola and he had surprised her Family when he came back as a Charmeleon; they thought that they were seeing things.

But all these fights with Sparky did lead to a bad thing happening.

One day when Lola was eight, they had run into Sparky again, who was bored and began to throw rocks at Char, he caught the majority, but Sparky had gotten faster then before, so there were ones he was unable to catch, instead he did his best to dodge them. But one did hit him, on his face, it went into his mouth. At first when Lola got closer to check on him she thought he was choking on it, but upon closer inspecting, it was stuck on the roof of his mouth. Sparky stopped throwing them, but Char was pissed and through one at him too, and it did the exact same thing as the one that had hit Char.

Lola almost panicked, she decided against taking them out of their mouths because it might cause more damage, so she decided instead to get them help, this was something that they needed to go to the Pokemon centre for, and that was in the next town.

She rushed them out of the forest and get her mum to help; she took Lola and them to the Centre, Lola's younger sisters Samus and Sammy and to come as well because they weren't allowed to be at home by themselves.

At the centre Char and Sparky got looked at right away to see what could be done to help them.

Lola sat on a seat waiting to find out if they were alright. Samus and her Squirtle Blast came up and sat next to her, Sammy was with their mum.

"Is Char gonna be right? Big sis?" the child queried.

"Dunno" her sister replied.

"Are you alright?"

"I don't want Char to be hurt"

"You're sad?"

"My brother is hurt so I'm sad"

Lola had already a strong bond with Char, she considered him a brother, him being a Pokemon and her being a human didn't change that in anyway.

"He will be right, promise" Samus promised her.

"Thanks" Lola patted her head; Samus moved her black hair back into place and gave her sister a look,

"Don't"

But Lola just chucked, "you're adorable you know that?"

After their little chat Samus went back to their mum and Sammy.

One of the people who worked at the centre walked up to Lola eventually.

He knelt down to her level and smiled a little before taking a seat next to her.

"Are you the little girl who owns the Charmeleon and Pikachu?"

Lola looked up to his face.

"I don't own them, Char is my brother and Sparky is my friend"

"Your brother? That doesn't make much sense little girl" he told her.

"yes it does, we were born at the same time, I've spent all my life with him, I love him more than anyone, there are people who call people who their not related to family, so why shouldn't it count with us just cause Char's a Pokemon?"

The man looked slightly shocked for a second, but then the expression left, it didn't seem like he had expected such a mature response from someone so young.

"I guess your right" he agreed.

"Is he alright? Please say yes!" she pleaded

Lola feared that his expression would become sad, because that would reveal a sad truth, but luckily, no such thing happened.

"He's alright, both of them are, you're lucky, Espio Pokemon can take a lot more damage than normal Pokemon"

He took notice of Lola's quizzical look that appeared from his last sentence.

"You have no idea what an Espio Pokemon is do you?"

"No" she answered him.

"It's not that hard to explain really. They are a type of rare Pokemon; I hear that there is only one of each Pokemon. Both that Pikachu and your Charmeleon are Espio Pokemon, I'm amazed that you have even met one much less have two." He explained to her

"So how do you know that Char and Sparky is Espio Pokemon? How are they different?" she implored.

"Well" he scratched his head, "Beside a strength difference, it is quite usual for them to have a colour difference, but not one that is totally different, that is common in shinnies. Your Charmeleon is darker than they usually are; your Pikachu is much lighter. And something else I was informed on about them, they will either have a slight difference in appearance or have something that they should have in later evolvements. Your Pikachu is much more fluffier than usual, and something I doubt you noticed about your Charmeleon, but on his back there are two parts on his back that come out a small bit. My best bet is that that is that those are wings, but they are hiding in his body while he is in no use for them. I doubt he knows he has them."

"Wow, Char has wings? Awesome." Lola grinned

"So how alright are they?" Lola getting them to a different conversation.

"alright, but we're not actually able to get the stones entirely out, we have chipped out bits so only a small fraction is left, but to take out the remaining piece could cause some brain damage."

"What's Brain damage?"

The man sighed; he hadn't expected her to know what it was.

"It is as the name state, it's damage done to the brain, it can cause for bad things to happen and if possible it should be avoided. If you love you dear Charmeleon like a brother then we will do what we can to not cause him any, but that will mean that he will be stuck with a part of a stone in his mouth"

"Better something stuck in his mouth than be hurt" Lola told him.

"So you're fine with your Pokemon like that?"

"Yeah, why would I have a problem with it?"

"Because the stones were neverstones, with it still there, your Charmeleon will never become a Charzard, and Thunder stones will become useless to your Pikachu and he shall be stuck as a Pikachu"

But it didn't change what Lola wanted any,

"It's alright, I like Charmeleons"

A week later Char and Sparky were able to leave the Pokemon centre and go home.

Lola was allowed to keep Sparky in the house for a week before she was forced to let him go again. But unlike last time, Lola wasn't against it, because she knew she could always visit him in his clearing in the forest.

Lola had good dreams that night. When she woke up in the morning she watched Char as he slept next to her on her bed, her mum was against them sharing a bed, but they had one the fight in the end.

He sensed her staring at him and turned around wanting to know why.

"Your special you know that Char?"

she swore that she saw him blush.

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><p><strong>while i was writing this i remembered something, i called lola, lola because at the time of her creation, i called every boy i created jack, and every girl lola, but she was the only one that stayed in existence.<strong>

**Review and you are awesome**


	3. Lumi's secret

**(3,423 words, decent legth, fun) This is a very important chapter, i just wished I'd written it better, not that it's bad, I just feel it could be improved. Lola will start all that pokemon journey crap in the next one, I'll try making it longer.**

**Disclaimer: I own pokemon, no not really. ( ;**

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><p><span>3 Lumi's secret.<span>

Two years passed by with the same routine, but today something different was going to happen. In a few days, Lola and her friends were going to start their pokemon journeys! she was going to explore all around the Kiki region, and more than just that, in all different regions! It was going to be so fun, her and Char travling together, how awesome.

Certain friends had decided to travel together, so she wasn't going to get to see them much anymore like she usually could, but her friend Alex and her could. He was going to travel with her. He was her only other friend that didn't live in the town over, he had a Bagon, he didn't have a nickname like Char. that would be fun too, they'd always been close, even if she spent so much time in Lumi woods that they never saw each other as much as they could. But he'd always been fine with that. Now they could spend much more together, now that they finally could go travling around.

Lola's big brother and sister were already travelling around the world. Muhro had left four years ago, she'd seen him twice since then. He was having a rest in Miyo region, where their Dad lives, so he was with him. sania had visited more often, and she'd been gone for just two. She'd visited their dad too, but now she was in Johto. Versing the gym leaders.

Lola was going to catch up to Sania, and then she'd beat her, she was always taking rests, while Lola had decided to go right at it, do everything faster then her. she'd be better than her, unlike all the others things, she could have something where she beat Sania completly.

Char came up to the couch where she was sitting on, handing her a sandwich,

"Thanks" She said after breaking away from her thoughts.

Char sat up beside her and ate the food he had, he had a roll, it was plain cause he liked them that way.

"Hey you know what I was thinking" Lola spoke up after swallowing the food in her mouth.

He tilted his head to show his attention,

"Well, I remembered, you know how Sania said something about she found a cave in the forest? She brang something back, and I never got to find out what it was" She paused after checking that she did indeed have his attention,

"Do you think if I went down to the cave, I could find something that might be able to help me find it out?"

He sighed, one of the most common things for him to do,

"I know that seems stupid, but I want to know. We can bring my friends with us to make sure we'll be safe" She tried convincing him.

"It will be alright, you're way stronger then other Charmeleons, you can protect us" She gave an encouraging smile, Still convincing.

Char would stand for what he believes, if he really believed something bad would happen, he wouldn't do it, and Lola would never do a thing without him. He saw it as his job to protect his sister, she was accident prone. But he knew he was strong, and they'd done things similar before. Going into that cave, and with others, they should be alright.

He sighed shaking his head, he'd let her convince him again to do something stupid, the only one that could do such was her.

he gave Lola a nod, she intantly figured it meant he would let them go.

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><p>Only a day later Lola had rounded up her friends to tell them of the idea. The ones that didn't live in the town were here because the regions proffessor lived in Acacia. It may be a small town, but the proffesser loved the local environment and it's secrets, so she chose to live here intead of a bigger town.<p>

Alex, the spikey haired blonde one sitting closest to Lola was all for it.

Reece and Kira were talking between them, whispering over whether it was a good idea, as like they were well aware of, Lola was rather accident prone. random annoying girls were envious for kira for her perfect golden hair, the only bad thing was it refused to grow past her shoulders. Reece's hair was longer then hers, it was even longer than it looked as it was full of dark brown curls, he had grown it just slightly past his shoulders.

Nick didn't comment, the short brown haired boy never said a thing to Lola's ideas, it was not known what he thought of them.

Issun decided to go with the idea. He was three years older then the others, but had been told the idea while visiting. As he was born and raised in Acacia, the pokemon that had been given to him was still by his side, an itimidating Feraligator that no one wanted to go near.

In the end Lola had convinced them all to go with her and Char to this cave.

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><p>The only bad thing was that no one, actually knew where it was. They travelled all around, before at last, came upon said caves entrance. It was haunting looking into the lightless depths, lucky Kira had been smart enough to bring a touch, or this would have been all for nothing as the cave's insides were not visable.<p>

Against what would have been the smartest thing to do, the kids went into the cave. Kira and Char stood in front as they were the ones suplying what little light they had. Lola stood just behind him, keeping close. Alex and Reece were in the middle with bagon on Alex's head and Nick behind them, going on and on about random as per usual. Issun and Feraligator were at the back, acting as protection in case a wild pokemon tried to ambush them from behind their backs. Similar to Char, who was not just giving light from the flame on his tail, but also to give protection to the kids that could be in danger without his help. Though surprisingly, no pokemon but the three with them were seen. It could have been predicted it would have been so, as there had been a severe lack of them in the area close to their location.

That was both a relief and surved to be confusing. Lumi was packed full of any type of Pokemon you could imagine, so why had none wondered into this cave? that was a mystery, there was something up with this place, if Pokemon had a problem with it, then surely something must not be right about it. To prove that more the three with them did look uneasy, but to be honest Char could be getting freaked out by the towering Feraligator close behind him, as he did have a horrible fear of water that when he saw it he would run around like a mad man.

The search so far had been proving itself to be a massive failure, everything was black. Then it took a turn towards the strange, A light appeared, down ahead the path split, one filled with darkness, the other was the source where the mystery light shone. Each person looked to each other, but no one had a chance to decide if the lighter path was safe, as Lola was already rushing to it, Char following behind. Not having a choice anymore the others followed them down the lightened path.

"Does she ever give it a thought?" Kira whispered to the others quiet enough for Lola not to hear.

"No, she's too confident for that" Alex said, giving a grin.

"yeah, that'll be right" Kira said in reply.

The light wasn't bright, but strong enough to light up the walls so they were now far more visable. The cave tunnels were zigg zagging along, the children were getting sore from the amount of walking they were doing, Lola was more used to wandering through an area which could prove no findings, so this was still proving fun for her, as this wasn't far off her usual. But the others were getting sick off this continuous walking, when everything was staying the same. They couldn't go much farther if this was proving to be pointless.

"Lola, how do you know this is the cave Sania found? Do you think we can find anything at all?" Issun called out from the back, Feraligator was growing more and more grumpy, it was obvious and starting to terrify the others that were already scared of him, it wasn't going to be nice to be near him when he was mad. Bagon was slipping from Alex's head, falling asleep from sheer boredom, Alex had to keep lifting him up. It showed all around that everyone were getting exhausted.

Lola turned back to them, Char was the second to stop, the others were a little perplexed that it was him that was the last to stop, it was the thought all around that for something like this Lola would always be the last to stop.

"But even Char thinks something is up ahead, he's the smartest pokemon I know" She complained wanting to go on.

"If he's reacting to something why aren't the others having a reaction too?" Kira piped up, reffering to the other two Pokemon.

"Maybe cause there all tired and bored and angry" She answered rudely,

"You're bragging now, shut up" Issun grumbled from the back, Feraligator giving a just as poisenous stare, Which worked to scare all the others but those intended.

"So what, if he thinks something is up ahead, we should believe him, I'm sure Gator and Bagon would feel it too if they weren't being stupid" Again being rude.

Feraligator stormed up closer to Lola, standing right in front, doing his best to intimidate her, but the over-confident girl wouldn't outwardly show fear, she gave the massive Pokemon a stare seemingly just as angry. Though freaked up himself Char stood by her to deliver another glare, doing his best to get the threat away from his sister. Feraligator turned the poisenous glare over to him, Char shivered, his only show of fear, but quickly turned back to being as scary as he could to the bigger Pokemon.

Likely it clicking that nothing he would do would work against these two, Feraligator turned back over to Issun, not any less angry. But now accepting that the two were going ahead, whether anyone else wants to or not.

"It's not further now, trust me. I don't doubt what Char believes, now we are going ahead, if any one else wants to leave, you are free to leave if you wish, other wise, follow on"

Words went between them all, but in the end the decision was to keep going, even if lola could be so damn annoying and they were getting tired of this all, if Char was the one that believed something was here, then maybe they could be right, Char was smart, unlike his twin, she fell short in places.

So again they travelled along the tunnel to a mysterious light which's source was still left unknown, not for long. Finally after an agonising walk, they came across an open area. It was a bright place, brighter then the path that lead them here, everything was clear and visable. The walls were covered in a shining crystal, a crystal stood in the middle of the space, all looks went to it. It was circular, going from the ground to the roof, brighter then anything in the room, most likely, it had been the source of a perculiar light that they'd followed for so long, just to know it's source, now they had it.

Lola was the first to get close to it, Char keeping close at her heels, in case of anything going wrong, he wanted to be there just in case.

"Guys, I think you should see this" She called from where she was, standing amazed just in front of the shining crystal. Every one else walked with caution to her position. Soon they saw what had her acting the way she was, in a trance like state, staring with her head tilted to the side.

Inside the forboding crytal, was something that had left all in wonder, they appeared to be some kind of stone, in the shape of different elemental symbols. Lola walked around, they were all around it, one space between them were longer, between a thunderbolt shaped stone, and a icicle shaped one, the space seemed so empty. Lola had the thought, something must have been there once, did the thing Sania find in a cave from Lumi, did she take the stone from here? But how could she, the stones were encased in a crystal, nothing showed that once someone had dug something from it, it was perfect, she couldn't have, could she?

In a trance, each person put their hands on the crytal, barely noticing, that each stood in front of a different stone. A bad feeling must have been felt by the Pokemon, for Char and Feraligator took hold of Lola's and Issun's hands, right before they touched, if they'd done it one second later, there would have been nothing to hold on to, because for reasons none would understand, they no longer stood in the cave, no longer anywhere near each other at all.

A symbol reminisant of a thunderbolt appeared against Lola's shut eyelids, it was there for a second, and in the next it was gone. She felt ground beneath her, like she'd just fallen down, it was hard, but not like the rock the cave's floor was made from, but like gravel, with something soft scattered in places, it felt like bright was battering her closed eyes, it was too bright for the cave, it felt more closer to sunlight, but how, how was this all working out?

Lola opened her eyes, and made herself sit up, Char was already up taking a look of their surrounding, likely keeping an eye out for danger, being the good brother he was.

Lola rubbed the back of her head, it felt so sore, she must have hit it pretty hard, but how the hell she'd get here?

Finally she got up onto her feet to look about the area as Char did. She was right about what the ground felt like, it was a bunch of rocks with grass in some places. In front was an ocean, it terrified her, she'd never not once seen that amount of water, it looked endless, how scary; She could only wonder Char's fear over it. Behind a mountain towered above, further instilling fear, Lola had seen a mountain before, but not so close, even if it wasn't the biggest she'd seen, Lumi had mountains, Close to it's edges, they'd always scared her, this was of no acception.

"Char, what's going on?" Her voice showed her current emotions, He turned back to her, worrying about her feelings of this strange place, where they had no idea how they got here.

He took hold of one of her hands to offer comfort. She still looked scared, her confusing was fueling the emotion.

He gave a confident look, hoping to help her, he didn't make a noise, not like it would help, maybe if he could speak Human there could be help there, but he was incapable of that. Lola gave a smile to him ,as thanks for trying.

His attempts on calming her helped, but they were quickly forgotting when a loud cry came down from the sky, Lola clung onto Char, her eyes darting above for the culprit of such a sound. There was nothing there, but after what seemed like an eternity, a thunderbolt flashed far above, and the culprit showed it's face, zooming done from it's place in the sky.

As it got closer it became more visable, it was a bird no doubt, it's wings could be seen flapping up and down, speeding up it's descent. It was by far the biggest Pokemon she'd ever seen, A gigantic bird of yellow and black, reminding her of a stormy night. Coming down to the ground it rested not far from her, a feeling she couldn't describe told her to go to it. tiptoeing foward, Char took a tighter grip on her, but it didn't do a thing, she kept on her way. The bird didn't move, it let her go to it, eyeing her in a suspicous way, but doing nothing more. Less than a metre away she stopped, holding out her hand; she touched it's head, without knowing what it was, it's name slipped from her mouth.

In a flash it was gone, Lola felt the grounds surface change, again she was on her back. The surface she was lying on felt soft, she could hear Char near. Opening her eyes she was shocked to see she was in her bedroom, lying on the covers of her bed. She raised herself up and looked around her, to the familar suroundings she woke up to every morning. How'd she get here? she was on the island, with the bird; Was that a dream? But she could remember it so clearly, and before that she was in the cave, she knew she had been. So how could she be in her room, had she really dreamt it all up?. Char was sitting against the wall under the window, his favourite spot to think. He was lost in his word of thoughts, he hadn't noticed she was awake. That would mean he really had something confusing him, and he was doing his best to figure it out. Did that mean that all that just happened to them, really did happen, but now they were here, like it hadn't happened at all.

Lola ran a hand through her hair, she was so god damn confused over it like Char was,she couldn't make any sense of it; if Char couldn't then how the crap was she going to?, he was the smart one!

Lola relised the heavy feeling on her lap, getting lost in her thoughts had made her unaware of it. Looking down she saw one of the stones from the cave. She picked it up and stared at it dumbfounded, how the hell?

Char had his gaze on it as well, he was untrusting of it, he didn't look happy.

It was bright yellow, the shape of a thunderbolt, reminisant of the two bangs that hang from the sides of her head, the same shape near exactly. It reminded her also of the strange bird, she'd never seen a Pokemon so huge,

"Zapdos"

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><p>Far away from them all, a girl stood at the entrance of a cave, keeping out of a thunderstorm. To her side sat an Umbreon, to the other An Arcanine of massive propotion. She patted Her Umbreon on her head, with the other hand she touched the flame shaped amulet that hung aroung her neck with a chain. It glowed, and a hint of a smile took shape on her face.<p>

A cry came from deeper in the cave, and out walked a moltrace, to many this would be something to fear, but the girl showed no sign of worry, intead walking up to greet the flaming bird.

"I'm sorry Molly, I didn't summon you, it just seems that," She gave a pause and a quick chuckle,

"The other amulets have been found" Sania said with a laugh.

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><p><strong>Reviews shall help my insanity, I need them to keep the remants of sanity I still have<strong>


	4. discussions and journeys

**(3,686 words) Me and my sister got ffxiii-2 yesturday, and now me and mah friend (lady blizzard) are hope fangirls, and we're not even up to a part where he is at. Why am I talking about xiii when this is a pokemon fanfic? **

**I won't be able to update for a bit, I have two assignments i got to do. And my sister can't play the game until we're done it, so i'm putting it in a box and hiding the box**

**Disclaimer: i no own pokemon, just my darling lola (not even her friends because my friends created them)**

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><p><span> 3) discussions and journeys.<span>

Lola had been so trapped in thoughts, brainstorming over what had happened to her and her friends, she didn't leave the house till two days afterwards, she decided it would be smartest for her to go for her friends to help figure this all out, for sure her and Char weren't enough. They were at Alex's house, all of them, even issun and feraligator. Who had decided to leave what should have been yesturday, but obviously the strange going on's had made them stay until a logical answer was given. She saw that all of them like her had a stone thing shaped like an elemental sign, like how Lola had a thunderbolt.

Nick's one was obviously a icicle, coloued a deep blue. He'd said he went to a place similar what Lola had, and same as it had been with her, a massive bird pokemon came down from the sky. Where Lola had gone the sky had been thundering, but no rain had poured; but in Nick's it had been pouring and pouring, the wind felt like ice, as everying else had been indeed. The pokemon he'd described, though with similarities, was quite different to what had confronted Lola. It was of a sky blue coloured one, with a tail like a streamer and a massive wings. He said it's beak and legs looked like ice. What a cold feeling it gave.

Issun was staring quietly at everyone, at the moment he stayed silent, guess he was being weird and wanted to be last.

The other three had a discription, that were rather different to what Lola'a and Nick's were. Reece said he was in a plain that spread as far as the eye could see. The grass looked pale from lack of sunlight. The sky was thunderous, a similar sky to what Lola had seen. A pokemon had been running towards him at a speeding pace, when it came to him it stopped not even metres away. The pokemon had apparently looked like a yellow sabre-toothed cat. It had thunderbolt like stripes and a tail like thunder itself. It had a cape reminisent of clouds, thunderclouds to be exact. He showed that like Lola the stone he had was a thunderbolt, but it was white, not yellow. To add to the differences, it's edges were not smooth and perfect like her's was, but spikey.

Kira was the next to talk about her meeting with a mysterious pokemon, Saying that she too was in a plain, though it was not thunderous, but raining, and not freezing either. The grass was pea green and looked very healthy and nourished. The pokemon that appeared before her reminded everyone of the one Reece had seen, but had even more difference then the ones Nick and Lola had seen. It too came rushing to her, stopping what sounded in the way she said it, to be even closer than what that cat thing Reece had described had. It had been a blue pokemon, reminding her more of a dog. It had white diamond shaped spots, and a purple mane going down the length of it's back. it had two white tails, similar to streamers. She thought it had looked beautiful, though well aware that is a strange thing to say about a pokemon. Her stone, which the others couldn't decide what it looked like; she said simply it resembled the crest on the pokemon's head, though less oval and much smaller, as she made it obvious it was huge to have on a head.

As Issun was still remaining silent, Alex was the next to talk. He too had been in a plain, but one without a cloud in the sky. The grass was basically dead and dry, the whole place was stinking hot. But even though it had such extreme heat, it had been night. Unlike the other two, this Pokemon in particular did not run to him, but walk. The area looked like it got more distorted as it came closer. He came right up next to him, this one getting closer then all the other pokemon had gone, and strange as it was, he said he swore this Pokemon had smiled. He showed that his stone had similarities to a flame, though this one was almost totally yellow, only having a deep red on it's sides. He said that the shape was more like what had been on the head of the pokemon than an actual flame.

Finally issun said something, which was about his stone, which he chose now to take out of his pocket. It was a deep gold colour, not like that was the strange part, it was a perfectly shaped orb. So unlike the others his was not shaped after something elemental. He then went on to say that the place he had been transported to was not much of a place at all, but intead the only thing that was around him was the colour of his orb, gold. The place had no ground or sky, he stood on nothing. The pokemon, didn't fly down or run to him from a far off distance, but simply appear. It was a rainbow coloured phoenix like bird whose primary colour being red. Though with the others when they had seen the pokemon, a knowledge of these pokemon had been delivered to them, so they had strange feelings upon first sight of them. But with Issun it was more than that. Not only was the feelings from sudden knowledge of what was in front of him, but feelings he was unable to discribe, but he felt like the bird was giving him the feelings, on that he was sure of it.

He claimed that he knew why that was so, the younger children's curiosity peaked as he said this,

"It's because it's a master pokemon"

He recieved strange looks from everyone but Char, which no surprise was needed as he had knowledge that the Charmeleon was an avid reader and most likely had heard the term before.

"What the craps a master Pokemon?" Lola got out being the first to get a word out.

Issun ignored the rude tone she'd used as such was what he'd come to expect from a girl like her and went on,

"Lots of legendary Pokemon have trios, from what I've seen here the Pokemon we have are the beast and bird trios," He gave a small shrug, "But it does seem that one of the birds is missing." He added in.

He was still recieving strange looks from everyone, so he went on explaning.

"My Pokemon, Ho oh" He made sure to say the name,

"Is the master of the beast trio. I've read somewhere that those three pokemon were created by a Ho oh. So in short, a master pokemon either is a legendary that created other legendaries, or is the strongest of their group, being the boss of the others." He finished off his explanation. He watched as the others became less confused, but he wasn't allowed to be silent for long, thanks to a certain idiot.

"So what's the master of the birds!" Lola piped up in exitement. "Do you know that one?"

"Lugia" He need only to say one word only, and strangely desprite how she hadn't heard of one pokemon they had talked about today, regonition appeared on her face, it included with it a look of amazement.

"Lugia" She spoke slowly, "I've heard of that one, I saw a picture of it in one of Char's books"

She paused for a second, "It looked so pretty, I remember obssessing over it, but that was so long ago. I'd almost forgotting about it..." She paused again but then stood up confidently making the ones closest to her jump,

"That's it, I've decided. One day I'm going to catch myself a Lugia!"

She didn't pay attention to the looks she recieved.

"You're not going to catch a Lugia Lola." Issun stated sure of himself.

"Well why not, you have a Ho oh!" She grumbled.

"Yes but that's thanks to insane circumtances, and any legandary pokemon is not an easy thing to catch. And besides," He looked down at Char,

"Since Lugia lives in places that do have a damn lot of water, I doubt someone like you is ever going to catch one.

Lola followed his line of sight to look down at Char sitting next to her,

"Char..." The pokemon spoke sadly, making his apologies to Lola.

"No don't apologies" She said fast,

Turning back to Issun with an angry look showing on her face, she spoke poisenously at the older boy,

"For making Char sad, I promise you that I will prove you wrong, no matter what it takes, I will catch a Lugia." She said with clear confidence.

Said confidence let her ignore that everyone in the room but her brother sighed at her stupidity.

* * *

><p>Two day's after that, The kids were set to begin their jouneys, Lola had gotten up ultra early from not being able to sleep, for once she got Char to join in with a dance, his heart wasn't fully in it but he had reason to celebrate as well because he too would no longer be stuck in Acacia. When it was no longer an insanely early time in the morning, they could finally leave to go to the proffessor. Her home which doubled as a pokemon research facility, was on the edge of town. It was surrounded by rose bushes and by far was the largest house in town, not like it was hard to do, the houses here were rather small.<p>

Alex was the only one there at the time, him and Bagon had gotten too exited and couldn't sleep, no doubt the others would come soon, but three of the four weren't in the mood to wait.

Prof. mellisa Azalea was near the door to the research facility part of her house, typing on her laptop new news she had gotten on Lumi forest. She got up and greeted the kids when they came in. Her Marill stood in a corner observing them. Azalea Had been raised in Acacia, it was how she had gained such a facination of the forest right next door.

The beautiful woman gave a flick of her shoulder length aqua green hair then went on to talk to them.

"I don't need to guess why you're here today do I now?" She smiled politely.

"Weren't there more of you?" She raised her hand to her mouth, it was a mannerism of hers, Lola had seen her do it plenty of times.

"Yeah but we couldn't wait" Lola burst out before Alex could open his mouth.

"I see, Well why don't we start?" Azalea guested for them to follow her to a table which had pokeballs in a neat pattern on top of it. Alex had heard from his mum that the woman suffered from a mild case of OCD, so that would explain the perculiar pattern they had been put in.

She told them to choose anyone they want. Lola was secretly annoyed by the choice they had, truly she'd never had much of a like of Kiki's pokemon, her love rested on Johto's and Kanto's. She thought they looked fantastic. That put a reason behind why she was so obssesed over how awesome Char looked and one of the reasons why she had wanted a Pikachu so badly when she was younger.

Finally the picky girl came upon one which reminded her much of a Raichu, which brought a smile to her face. It was called a Minichu ( a/n crappy name I know, keep in mind I was a kid when I created him) Oh it had a similar name too. She already loved it. As it's name stated, it was very small, why she could quite easily rest it in her hands. It's ears were a good size, put them together and they would be bigger then it's head. The biggest difference it had from a Raichu though of course, had to be it didn't have circles on it's cheeks and it had a very long tail, which in all honestly must have been tens times bigger than itself. Which could prove useful and as well as it's downfall. It was a very pale orange, as Raichu's were of a darker one. All in all it did have a number of similarities. The proffeser did tell her that they change heaps on evolvement, only males though, the females had other evolvements. But saying that Lola was informed that this one was indeed a boy.

"It's thunder if you haven't already guessed" She put in to say again the the girl. She missed her sudden expression change as she turned to talk to Alex about the Pokemon he wanted.

"Thunder Pokemon are stalking me..." She breathed out without emotion.

"But all well, as long as I have one fire it's fine, isn't it bro?" She spoke now to the Charmeleon beside her, who was keeping his watch on the Marill in the corner, making sure it didn't make any sudden moves, he was like this near all water pokemon, his fear got the best of him.

"It's not going to do anything, you can stop that now Char." Lola informed him.

The Charmeleon gave her a not so nice look then looked down to see the tiny pokemon standing in front of him in curiosity. He hadn't seen a Minichu before, and couldn't help but notice their smiliarities to another Pokemon he had seen in one of his books.

"Char Char" He held out his hand in greeting. The other Pokemon stared up at the larger one for a second before lifting up his miniture hand to shake.

"You know, I have a good name for you,"

"Mimi?" It asked,

"Do you want to know it?"

The small Pokemon nodded slowly.

"Mini, It's fitting isn't it?"

The Minichu gave a smile to the human showing it's agreement.

Char gave a look to Lola showing he had a problem with it,

"I know they get bigger after evolution, but I"ve heard of massive things called Mini before, at least he will have been small for some part of his life." She pleaded her reasons. Char continued his look for a while longer then gave up, after all Lola was not an easy one to get to change her mind.

"Mini it is then."

She picked it up and held it close,

"And damn are you adorable Mini."

The three turned their heads to see prof. Azalea and Alex talking about the Pokemon he had in front of him, to be honest it looked like a mix between a crocadile and a seal, not as cute as Mini but the cuteness was still there.

From the looks of it that was the Pokemon Alex and Bagon had decided on. He picked it up and went over to Lola,

"She said it's called a seakai" He grinned, Bagon did as well.

"Really, sounds cute." Lola grinned back,

"This is Mini, He's a Minichu," Lola introduced them,

"Already with the nickname?"

"Yeah"

Alex sighed, Lola wasn't going to be able to have a Pokemon without giving it a nickname.

After Azalea talked to them for a while, they left with their new Pokemon to prepare for their themselves for their jouney.

Outside the others had finally came, they went off at the others for already having a pokemon, but quickly gave up the yelling, for it didn't have much of a point. Lola and Alex showed Mini and Seakai to them, which they had to admit were pretty adorable. Issun was with the other three, said he wanted to see them get their first pokemon, for them it truly would be, because the other two already had Bagon and Char. He told Lola an interesting fact, no one had an idea what Minichu's evolvement looks like, for the males it was a mystery. If it was not in records of them evolving, people would think they didn't at all. The only information on it was that it was bigger.

* * *

><p>Lola went back home to get her stuff and say goodbye to her family. Her Mum was almost in tears because another one of her children was going to start their jouney, wait for when Sammy does, she's the youngest. Sammy herself was waving and saying goodbye repeatively, Samus was givng her a look filled with envy; like how Lola envied Sania, Samus envied her, just not to the same degree.<p>

After saying goodbye Lola joined back up with Alex, who had just said his goodbyes to his parents and younger brother Brodie. The girl told him she had one last thing she had to do before she left, he looked at her confused, Char had already figured out what she was talking about. Right after saying it she took off for Lumi, She didn't see his faceplant.

Char hurried after her and caught up quickly, Alex and Bagon waited at the entrance.

Lola searched around before finding what she was looking for, the sounds of rocks hitting rocks was the clue.

"Sparky!" The wavy haired girl ran up to the fluffy pikachu.

He had been passing the time smashing small rocks against bigger rocks, as he had no friends he was always left with nothing to do. His eyes lit up upon the sight of the girl and the scowling Charmeleon following at her heels.

He droped the rock he was holding and ran to her, she looked happy about something, he knew it must have been really good or else she wouldn't have gone looking for him.

"Sparky, I have a brilliant idea, But of course I need to know if you'll agree first." She spoke slowly, keeping her exitement under control.

"Listen, Me and Char are going on our litlle journeys now, and I want you to come with us. Do you?"

Sparky stared up at her with happiness shining in his small eyes, He literally jumped for joy, more then enough for Lola to know that the answer was yes.

"Now I want to ask, Do you want to be in a pokeball or not?, I know I will have to put some of the Pokemon I catch in them, but I want to give you a choice."

She waited for a reaction that would count towards a yes or no.

Surely enough she actually got a yes, by the bright pokemon nodding his head reapeatively.

"Awesome, but first there's someone I want you to meet,"

She pulled out a pokeball from her bag and released what was inside, Her little Mini was startled at first, with all the tall trees and shadows litering the place. But as he noticed two familiar faces he calmed down.

"This is Mini, He's my new friend, Cutely pie ain't he?"

Sparky knelt doen to it's level, for his size made it that even a pikachu had to, And smiled, calming the Minichu's nerves more.

"We're all going to be friends now alright?" Lola exclaimed with confidence.

After recieving smiles from every one but the Charmeleon which was beggining to appear impossible for him to do. Lola returned Mini to his ball and for now didn't put sparky in one, she and him decided that they would only when he wanted to.

After this Lola exited Lumi to see Alex having a conversation with Issun, upon noticing her, Alex and Bagon sighed over seeing the pikachu on her shoulder, She'd always said one day she would have a pikachu, and finally in all rights Sparky was hers.

Issun however didn't have such a reaction and smiled at her, Lola had to give a suspicious look to him, her recieving such a smile wasn't good news.

"Hey guess what I figured out retard?" He said still with that evil smile.

"What?" Ignoring he had indeed called her retard.

"Considering I have a ho oh, You know what that means?" His voice going even more evil.

"What?" She could guess where he was going,

"It means that once upon a time there was a Lugia in that cave"

Evil...Evil, evil boy.

"I hate you,"

Lola glared down at the thunder shaped stone in her pocket, that she knew would summon a zapdos, as amazing as it was she wanted with all her heart a lugia, the one she'd never have.

"Go away Issun, go bother someone else," Lola said fiecely and pushed passed him, char and Alex followed her along.

With that they left the town, with Lola still in a bad mood. It wasn't her ideal way to start off this journey, but at least now, it had begun.

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><p><strong>Because this series will contain pokemon which don't exist, I will do something for the people that can't be bothered to create a design in their mind, I have a accout on , So i will put up pictures of them on there. My account is called supersakura64. It may take sometime before the pictures get on there though, because my internet likes to crash and i suck with a tablet.<strong>

**Review so I will stop feeling emo and stupid, apparently reviews are helpful...**


	5. training

**(1,087 words) Yes this is pretty damn short, but I've got writers block so what few people read this should appreciate that at least I wrote something. This is my only non final fantasy story, so it's particularly hard to write, I feel like I've got to be in a whole different mind set to write. I still love lola though, she's me but more usuful ( I don't think that's a good thing she has a million negatives in her personality)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon**

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><p><span>4) training<span>

Lola sat a top a rock, over looking a grassy field. Her and Alex had used this day to help strengthing their Pokemon. Alex had also been lucky enough to find a starly, deciding to catch it so he and Lola would have an equal amount of pokemon. It was getting late now and they felt exhausted. They had left Acacia a week ago, and through that they had passed one town, where they bought some supplies beyond that the had started training by fightning against wild pokemon. They had teamed up once yesturday to verse a passing duo of trainers. They called Lola a cheating bitch for the use of having two espio pokemon on her team, but she didn't see it as such. Eventually Sparky and Char would be far stronger than what they should be, but they surely weren't at the moment. They hadn't done much training so far and though they were stronger than the other pokemon with the two humans, that didn't mean they were strong.

Char rested his head near where lola sat and fell into a deep sleep, sparky rolled up next to him but didn't close his eyes. They hadn't ate anything yet and soon they would after Alex and Bagon had came back from town with their dinner. Lola's held Mini in her arms, he was so tiny she could have held him in one hand alone; but that wouldn't be a comfortable position for the miniture pokemon. So he had his back rested against her right arm, with his lengthy tail twirling around the other.

Her joints ached from the days activities, she could only wonder how it must be for the three by her side. Sparky's eyes were drooping and it was only sunset. She let him rest for a bit like she was allowing Char to but soon he would need to be woken up.

She droped back and put her back against the rock she sat upon, keeping a distance from herself and the flaming end of her brother's tail. She hugged Mini to her cheast, then loosened her grip feeling like she was holding too tight on the Minichu. He had fallen asleep first, he'd fallen to the ground in an exhausted heap after knocking out a poocheyena. That was when they'd decided to take a break for the day. They had the same schedule for tommorrow before they would continue on to the next town. Where after the day or two of training they would take a rest in the town and make an attempt on the first gym leader.

Lola felt her lids feeling heavy and soon she found them closing against her will. She battled against but found it a losing battle and allowed her sore body to do what it wanted to do.

She was rudely awoken by claws landing on her, sitting bolt upright, waking up a startled Mini while doing so; she found the culprit to be Alex's newly caught Starly. Mini scrambled out of her loose grasp and hopped onto the small grey bird's back, leaving not much free space and making a heavy weight for the pokemon to carry. Char pulled himself up and made Sparky, who had been resting on the Charmeleon's side fall and hit his head on the hard rock below. The fluffy pokemon gave a glare to the scowling other, who made sure to return it before he gave one to Mini as an order for him to get off the starly who clearly couldn't hold his weight. Mini feeling intimidated from the bigger pokemon's poisenous look, did as he wanted and jumped clean off the bird back into Lola's waiting arms, as she had expected him to listen to Char the moment she'd seen the extra mean scowl.

"Hey, you hungrey?" She heard Alex's voice call out, she looked up to see where he was, finding him standing only a few metres away with Bagon walking by his side and his Seakai on his shoulder half asleep.

"You bet I am!" She yelled louder than needed.

"Sounds like it," The boy laughed as he listened to her growling stomach.

Char hopped off the rock with Sparky soon following, Starly flew over to his new trainer, fluttering near him keeping an eye on the food. With no one in her way Lola jumped off the rock and went after her pokemon.

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><p>They sat in a circle devouring the food Alex had bought. Starly and Mini had split their food in two because they didn't need to eat as much as the others. Sparky ate more than the pikachu should have and Char ate in silence, at a slower pace then those surrounding the mature Charmeleon.<p>

"Still got the same to do tommorrow eh? Damn tiring." Alex laughed dryly.

"Well it's not like this is going to be easy. Trust me it's just gonna get harder from here on out." Lola replied.

"yeah, hard to see this as the 'easy part' Lo." He rolled his eyes.

"Well it is trust me, Muhro and Sania have told me plenty. But don't worry, some parts will suck but all in all it's going to be fun."

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><p>After dinner and the sun had fallen beyond the horizen leaving darkness to shroud the area with no light besides the one from the moon and Char's ever flaming tail, they had decided that they would turn into bed for the night.<p>

Alex and lola set up their sleeping bags on the flatest area they could find. Sparky, Seakai, Mini and Starly had returned to their balls. Leaving Bagon and Char the only others around. Lola tied her mess of brown waves into a ponytail so it wouldn't get too notty in the night, she didn't have much time to give it a brush in the morning so she might as well make sure it didn't get too bad while she sleept. She watched Alex climb into his sleeping bag before doing the same herself. She smiled at Char as he fell into the world of dreams like everyone else.

"Night bro, see you in the morning." She snuggled against her blankets, grinning at the small smile she got in return.

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><p><strong>Reviews will be appreciated more than you can imagine and shall help with my sanity.<strong>


	6. sightseeing

**(1,080 words, heh yeah this is short) I'm putting this on hiatus for more time and faster updates for the stories that are actually being read. It will not be perminent of course, i love my precious Lola and Char too much for to do such a thing. Anyway and enjoy if you're reading this, It's my most unpopular story.**

**Disclaimer: If i owned pokemon it wouldn't be on fanfiction**

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><p><span>5) sightseeing<span>

Lola walked into Guntara city awhile after the sun had risen with Char following close behind and Alex and Bagon not far behind him. Lola sighed A loud sigh of relief. It'd been days since she had set foot in any place with a building or simply anything of the sort, this was the break she'd needed.

Though she had a massive urge to go off and explore, now was not the time thanks to all the aching she felt all over; sometimes sleeping on nothing but the ground is a bad idea. It wasn't like it was her fault that it was too hot to get to sleep in a sleeping bag, Char's ever flaming tail hadn't caused the heat she'd felt on those nights any better.

Lola's limbs were feeling the worst at the moment and before she could fully get her mind to work she found herself falling to the ground.

She heard a laugh from Alex behind her,

"guess we might want to go find a place to stay eh? It's not like we have to go fight the gym leader straight away, we all need to rest right now."

"Yeah, yeah you go do that..." Lola mumbled drearily from her place on the ground.

"You're coming too you know, we have to find a place together." He chuckled as Char reached down to pulled the girl off the ground.

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><p>They found a place to stay easily enough, there had been a hotel near the east entrance to the city. They payed for the room with the money they'd gotten from versing other trainers on the path coming here. Alex payed for two nights, if they wanted to stay for more they would have to pay for the extra nights on the last night they had already payed for.<p>

When they got in the door Lola crashed onto the bed, and immediately started to talk to herself about the joys of being in a bed again. Char fell to the floor next to the bed she lay on and curled himself into a ball.

"I've never seen you looking so exhausted before." Alex stated being ammused, "It's weird considering it's you we're talking about here." He finished and took a seat on the small green couch in the corner of the room, Bagon hopped of his head and took a seat next to him.

He barely noticed Lola was stuck staring at the medallion she had wrapped around her neck with brown frabric, she was getting lost in thought over it, sure she knew it was meant to summon a zapdos or something, but she was yet to see anything happen because of it.

But she didn't want to think of this right now, 'what's the point in caring about it if I don't even want one, it doesn't matter. Concern yourself with whats happening now' she thought to herself.

But what is there to be think about?

"Hey Alex?"

'Yeah Lol?" He looked over to her.

"How bout we go take a look around?" She asked pleading.

"Not now, too tired." He answered

"I'm didn't mean now!" She yelled in a annoyed tone back to him,

"I meant tommorrow! Not like we have to go and fight the gym leader straight away right?" She picked herself up and got into a sitting position, Char looked up at her from where he was on the floor.

"Fine then, but I'm not waking up early."

"Alright then, our schedule for tommorrow is sleeping in and sightseeing!"

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><p>So the next day, after sleeping into midday they went to look around Guntara city. They split up instead of keeping together, they had all their pokemon out with them so it wouldn't be like they would be by themselves. Lola had a tight grip of Mini in her arms and Sparky holding loosely to her shoulder with Char keeping up next to her right side.<p>

"Damn this place is big isn't it? I've never been somewhere like this before!" She spoke filled with amazement at the sights that surrounded. Char gave her a look which she read as 'We haven't either you know'

She gave him a small smile, "that's right isn't it, it's the first time for you guys as well."

For the rest of the day they walked around not doing much beside window shopping and simply just walking around. All were impressed by what the city had to offer, sadly they didn't have enough money to go about buying all the stuff they wanted. But they did make sure to buy some of Guntara city's famous icecream, it was meant to be the best in the entire of the Kiki region, and damn was it good. Sparky and Mini shared one because both weren't very big and didn't have the biggest appetite while Lola and Char enjoyed their own ones. Char didn't have much of a sweet tooth so it showed just how tasty it was considering he was enjoying like the others were. He had a coffee flavoured one though, so it wasn't sweet like the rainbow bubblegum icecream the other three had.

At the end of the day they redevoued with Alex, Bagon and the other two at the front door of the hotel. Alex had this delightful smile on his lips.

"Oi, what's up creepy?"

His expression changes after her comment, but he shook his head and returned it to the previous less than sane looking one.

"Guess what I found out!" He said with an unusual ammount of cheer in his voice. Something was wrong, Lola was the happy cheery one, not Alex.

"what did you find out?"

He gave an amused smile to Char before saying anything,

"That the gym leader is absolutely obssessed with water types."

Lola'a face was drained of it's happy energy, She slowly moved her gaze over to Char, who looked like he just seen a ghost,

"I have to verse someone obssessed with water with a Charmeleon that's scared of water?"

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><p><strong>Reviews will be much appreciated, bye bye<strong>


	7. A shocking surprise

**(3,549 words) I'm surprised I'm updating this, I've only got one reader besides my sister, suppose I'm being nice. It took me only one night to write, a pokemon battle is rather simple to write after all. Sometime's they're fun, but I tried to limit myself a little because the pokemon are low leveled at this point. I don't have to with Sparky though, he's nuts, really nuts. no way in hell would I like to fight him ever. Ooh just wait for when Princess gets involved (She will be one of Lola's next pokemon but I don't know when to put her in)**

**Ooh, and I have to do this because apparently I have to with every story in this loop.**

**I CAUGHT THE MOTHERF**KING HYLIAN LOACH MOTHERF**KER.**

**I must really be confusing people with this. Oh and i only have two more chapters to write before REI and I'm updating REI twice in a row now because it's my oldest story.**

**Disclaimer: Seriously, if I owned this, it wouldn't be on this website.**

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><p><span>7) A shocking surprise<span>

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><p>Lola stood with Char by her side. Today was the day she was to verse the Gym leader. In fact Alex was already versing him. She knew that excluding Char her Pokémon were better suited to versing a water type, but he was stubborn and a strategic genius. It wouldn't matter what he was using, he had the brains to win. She didn't have them; Sania did, just like the rest of her siblings. Sammy would no doubt start showing smarts as she got older too. It ran in the family, but it had missed her completely. She rushed into battle using good offence as the main ingredient, and could do nothing but hope for the best. It's why she trained to such an outrageous degree, to make up for what she lacked.<p>

She sighed, even with a good offence; she did have a lack of Pokémon. She had two that could use, with Chair's deathly fear of water, she really couldn't count him. He'd be scared to be in the same room as a Pokémon using water gun, even when it was not directed at him. Lola had told him not to go in with her, but he refused, he wanted to help her by offering words of support. She was going to try beat a gym leader who had five strong water Pokémon, with two tiny electric Pokémon. Good thing they were an effective type, and that they were small so they could dodge easily, but she couldn't escape the fact that she had only two.

"Cha Char." Char spoke up from her side; from his tone she deduced he was trying to alert her of something, in this case someone.

Lola looked ahead to see Alex waving ecstatically at her, his tiny Seakai was wrapping its fins around his neck and Bagon was being held in Alex's arms. He'd been knocked out from the looks of things.

"Alex!?" Lola ran the remaining distance between them, Char keeping at her heels. "Did you win!?" She asked excitedly, inside she felt sick and angry, but she wouldn't let it show.

The blonde lifted up the badge for her to see, "Yep, funny how I made a water Pokémon own others of the same type. Jesus the little guy was fast, he tired out the last one so taking him down was easy." His smile went all across his face, he really was happy.

"Good for you." Lola forced a smile, and ducked her head so he couldn't look into her eyes and see her true emotions.

He knew her too well to fall for her attempt at pretending to be happy for him. He smiled grimly. Of course that joy was in there somewhere, but she wouldn't be able to feel it on case of it being overpowered by her paranoid fear. It was a problem she'd always avoided talking about, only Char ever had, and he had simply overheard those conversations. She didn't just hate losing, she was scared of it, it she failed something, it meant she lost. And if she lost, she was worthless and could never beat Sania. And beating Sania was all she ever wanted, it was her goal in life, because then someone could look upon her as someone that has done something in their life.

"I'm going to go take my Pokémon to a centre, you're up next. Good luck." He gave her a thumbs up, which meant he had to hold onto Bagon tighter.

Lola lifted her head back up with another fake smile gracing her features

"Alright, we'll do our best."

Alex nodded and exited the gym to find the local Pokémon centre.

Char reached up and gave Lola's hand a comforting squeeze. She smiled with a sad look in her eyes at his attempt to make her feel better.

"We'll be alright wont we?" She laughed shakily, she felt like crying for a reason she couldn't even put her finger on. Her paranoia wasn't a laughing matter.

"Chaarr." The Charmeleon sighed; he didn't know the answer either.

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><p>Lola and Char walked the short path to the stadium. The main part of the gym and the stadium were separated by a long blue hallway, and Lola knew that all those shades of watery blue were already making her brother sick.<p>

The door at the end opened to a large stadium. Lola was awed by its sheer size; she'd never been in a place so magnificent. Sure, for a stadium, this may well be small, but to the ten year old who had grown up in a small town; it was nothing short of amazing.

Grey seat's lined up on the sides, and the ground was made of light brown dirt with miniature rivers darting in between. Sometimes they opened up into a pool, sometimes they cut through the earth as an underground tunnel. Blue and white markings decorated the ground to point out where the trainer had to stand, but for now she ignored them. All her previous anxiety was gone, and she was caught up in the moment, too excited to think of losing. Char was in a similar way, only that he felt sick in his stomach every time he looked back to the ground and saw all that glistering blue liquid.

"Wow." Was all she could say.

"Impressed are you? A jovial voice appeared from the other side of the long stadium as a tall lanky man walked out from a brown door. His brown hair, the exact colour of Lola's own, was streaked with baby blue and white. His fringe jutted down and covered his left eye. His long hair was pulled up into a low pony tail that ended at the small of his back. His clothes consisted of a white polo shirt with hazel tracksuit pants and a trench-coat of the same colour, trimmed with the same shades of blue and white as his hair. His hands were in his pockets and his smile was cocky and enthusiastic, he gave off the same aura as Lola did when she was in a good mood.

"I'm Akai, glad to meet you kiddo." His startling red eyes glinted from the reflection of the water, as he observed the wide eyed girl with thunder shaped bangs framing her face. She seemed cute, and even from here gave off a similar feeling to what he did, he liked her already.

"And I'm Lola, and I'm here to win." Her self-confidence came back full force, screw filling paranoid and scared, this was much better.

"Heh, really now. We'll see about that." He chuckled and stepped forward to stand by the edge of the arena. "Kids these days are so over-confident."

He smiled brightly before taking out a Poke-ball of his pocket and throwing it into the arena.

"Let's go Golduck!" He yelled laughing like a mad man, far too excited for his own good.

His Golduck materialised in the middle of the ring, standing on a circular pillar in the middle of a ford, where all the rivers connected.

'_A water Pokémon straight off eh_?' She thought to herself as she raised her poke-ball to her lips and whispered to who it contained. "Size is a disadvantage here with all those gaps, so use your tail as an advantage." She brought out a smile and threw the ball like Akai had.

Mini came out an landed on a strip of land just before the rivers collided, and where his opponent stood waiting.

"Mimi!" The small Pokémon said eagerly.

"Well let's get the party started, Golduck straight ahead!" Akai pointed frontward.

The Golduck listened to his command and jumped forward with the intent of tackling his miniature foe,

"Mini to the side!" Lola screamed and Mini did just that, the Golduck missed him by centre metres.

But just as Mini landed the Golduck kicked the ground beneath his feet and changed his direction, right at him.

Before Lola could give the command Mini instinctively brought up his tail for protection, and just as the Golduck got to him the Yellow orb on the end of his tail ignited into electrical sparks and ran down the entire length of its tail. The blue Pokémon had no time to react and dove right into it. He was electrocuted and smacked back in a smouldering heap. But he was not done yet, the Golduck painfully lifted itself up, he was jittery from the electrical currents running through him. He forced himself up onto his feet, still extremely unsteady. Lola was yet to catch up to what her pokemon had just done, she knew that Mini's electrical attacks all came from his enormous tail, but she hadn't expected him to use it so suddenly.

Wait! A genius idea struck her.

She waited for the gym leader's pokemon to make the first move.

"Golduck, out of the firing line!" Akai commanded him, with nothing besides him but water, Golduck dived into the ford.

And straight into Lola's plan. She took advantage of Mini's great hearing and whispered to him so her opponent couldn't do a thing about it until it was too late.

"Mini put your tail in the water, electrocute him that way!" She hissed.

The Minichu nodded and placed the orb into the watery depths and sunk the rest of the black tail inside.

"OH shi!" Akai noticed his mistake only when it became too late, "Golduck get out of there!"

Too bad for him that water can carry electrical currents, for Mini had, for lack of better words, electrocuted the water, and in turn electrocuted Golduck.

Scowling Akai returned his Golduck to his Poke-ball, he let out a laugh, only when he'd calmed down.

"Awhile back I was told a minichi were pains in the asses, not hard to beat, just total pains. I'm glad they only live in Lumi or I'd have to deal with the buggers a whole hell of a lot more." He chuckled and brought out another Poke-ball.

"They only exist in Lumi?" Lola questioned, it was news to her.

"Ya didn't know? everything weird comes from there. Ahh, just looks like I'm going to have to step it up a notch." He laughed manically before releasing a Vaporeon into the arena.

Lola stayed silent as she felt the amulet around her neck, '_everything weird comes from Lumi eh'_

She literally shook the thought out of her head; the battle was what she had to concentrate on, not what was around her neck.

"Charge Vaporeon!" He screamed as his Vaporeon jumped onto the same platform as Mini and proceeded to try to tackle him. This time it was too fast for him to block so he jumped to the side and teetered on the edge of the solid platform.

He rolled forward as Vaporeon went for another attack, he dodged and she landed in the water but in a second she jumped out again.

"Keep going girl!" Akai yelled from the side lines.

"Wear her out okay!?" Lola yelled as well as she did her best to come up with a plan. That Vaporeon was a living rocket, and even with Mini's small size making him hard to hit, he couldn't keep dodging forever.

Vaporeon didn't charge, this time she did a water gun aimed directly Minichu, he ducked his head and the water gun went straight over him, but his opponent quickly noticed this and lowered her head to make it hit. Mini was sent flying thanks to his small weight. Luckily he was saved from flying out of the arena when he shoved his tail into the water and hooked it onto one of the underground tunnels.

He swung himself around to Vaporeon's back and jumped on her proceeding to use his electric tail on her.

"VAAAAA!" She screamed and kicked him about like a bull in a radio.

Mini wasn't strong enough to hold on and he was kicked off and this time he did go flying. He landed with a gigantic splash in the water as the Vaporeon huffed and huffed on dry ground. The attack had really done a number on her.

Mini splashed about fearfully as he tried to stop himself from drowning and get back to dry land. Lola was a second away from making him return when his tiny hands finally touched on solid ground. He pulled his sore body up onto it and lay breathless as he dried.

Both he and the Vaporeon were exhausted already; a spark or two were still coming from the Vaporeon's short blue fur.

"Vaporeon, if you can still move give it one last chance." Akai ordered, and his Pokémon who held that same stubborn streak as him nodded and charged forward, for what would be the finishing move.

But Lola couldn't let herself lose, not when she was doing so well.

"Mini! You can't lose now! Trip her up, throw her! I don't know just do something I'm begging you!"

Mini gave a slight nod, too small for her to see. Just as the Vaporeon was upon him he wrapped his tail around her legs and tightened it around them. The result was her falling over, but she still had just enough fight left in her for that to not be enough.

Mini used up his remaining strength by starting up his electricity again and with as much force as he could possibly muster; picked her up and threw her.

Vaporeon crashed into a wall, fainting.

Akai let out a loud groan of annoyance as he returned his Vaporeon to his poke-ball. Lola did the human thing and returned Mini as well, even though he was yet to faint. She knew he wouldn't have lasted another fight.

Let's just hope Sparky's phyco enough to beat three opponents, she really didn't want to bring Char into the equation.

On the other side of the stadium Akai was taking out his third pokemon.

"Go Prinplup!" He screamed in an anger laced voice as the penguin pokemon appeared on his side of the arena.

Lola sighed, she really was hoping for a miracle here.

"Go Sparky!" She threw the ball and the overly fluffy Pikachu emerged on the largest platform.

She didn't get to say one word, and neither did Akai, because in that first second, the crazy thing had already latched onto the gym leader's Prinplup and was attacking it like a rabid squirrel.

"Holy crap what is wrong with you!?" Was the yell that came, surprisingly, from both humans in the room. Even Char looked shocked.

Yes, Lola had seen it before, when she was training Sparky, when he attacked, he went nuts. Only this was a lot worse than usual. Before it would actually take a couple of seconds before he went all out, not none.

"What is wrong with that puff-ball!?" A confused Akai screamed as his poor Pokémon was being attacked by the rabid Pikachu.

"Yeah… I'm sorry; it's usually not this bad…" Lola sighed as she watched; both had accepted nothing they could do would stop him.

The Prinplup was lucky to get Sparky off of him; in fact he threw him in the water. But after a minute of splashing about he jumped out again and sicked him again.

The battle was over in a blink of the eye. It was easy to see what happened, and yet, everyone was unbelievably confused.

Akai returned the fainted Prinplup to its poke-ball, with a face gone blank from severe shock.

"Ssssiiiiiiiiiggggggghhhh." Akai fell onto the ground, like he was exhausted, though it was clear he wasn't. Lola looked on curiously, waiting for him to do something. Sparky sat in the middle of the stadium like an obedient puppy waiting for his next opponent.

"Cheater, he's an Espio isn't he? I've heard that to be on a level playing field with a member of the Elite Four you'd need at least one of them. Jeez, and I'm versing a kid with two, my lucky day." He sighed again and stood back up, he was looking at Lola accusingly and angrily.

She guessed since he'd said two he noticed that something seemed off with Char as well.

"What on earth did you do to come across those two, I've looked for one my whole life for one and have come up with no results, how did you do it!?" He was pissed off, to an extreme degree.

Lola flinched under the cold glare, "Well, I don't really know, I kinda just found Sparky, and Char is my brother so…" She lost her voice as she tried to finish, the gym leader's bad mood was terrifying.

"Your 'brother Pokémon', I heard about that tradition of Acacia's, always thought it was stupid. Guess it has its uses." He rolled his shoulders and cracked his next; Lola was starting to feel like she really could see a black aura around him.

"Well how 'bout we fight phyco with phyco?"

He brought out his fourth Pokémon, scowl still present, as he threw it into the air,

"Go Poocheyena!"

Like in the battle before, no words needed to be side by either trainer; for their Pokémon got straight into it without a second thought. The Pikachu and Poocheyena attacked each other like savages; they became a blur of grey, black and yellow running about the middle platform of the stadium.

Lola and Akai watched on with waiting gazes to see which Pokémon would overcome the other. Neither had a clear view at the distance they stood, all they could do was wait patiently for the result.

A loud whine and hurt sounding 'Pika' came from the battling pair and the result was given as both Pokémon fell to the ground an exhausted heap.

"God damn it!" Akai screamed as he returned his Poocheyena. He was annoyed obviously, but he still had a Pokémon left.

She had failed, she'd lost. More than likely it was another water type; the last one was put in there to throw a trainer off because they weren't as ready for it.

Ignoring her melancholy expression he threw out his last poke ball, a Poliwhirl came from within.

"Wha!" She looked up, "But I don't have anymore!" She yelled.

He smirked as a response, "You have that Charmeleon behind you, I'm not blind you know." He snickered, she'd put him in a bad mood and he wasn't going to calm down soon.

Lola turned back and looked into the eyes of the Charmeleon, he looked scared, more than she'd ever seen him. She couldn't get him to do this. Maybe if there wasn't so much water, but it was there and that Poliwhirl would be torture to verse for him too.

She turned back, she was panicking inside her head, and it was slowly rising to the surface to show on the outside. Her hands grasped her necklace tightly, she needed something to hold onto, and that was all she had. A lone tear fell down her cheek.

"I can't make Char do that, not with all the water there." She sobbed, she really didn't want to give up, but she couldn't force Char to do something he couldn't. Oh what choice did she have?

She screamed then, angry and depressed that she had failed, it was only the first god damn one, he wasn't that strong! How dare she fail! Lola stamped her foot on the ground and held her necklace tighter.

That was when the room exploded into shining golden light. She froze and raised her eyes to what should have been the roof. Only it was gone, everything was gone. It all went on for eternity. Only she, Akai and the two Pokémon remained. Then it appeared, a yellow bird dove down from the impossible heights, only to stop not ten metres above her, staring straight ahead at her opponents.

Akai's eyes went wide as the room turned back to normal, only the Zapdos remained. It let out a large screech and thunderbolts went everywhere, Char and Lola ran back as far as the room would let them, and Akai followed suit.

The thunder missed all but one, the Poliwhirl stuck in the middle of the arena. He was a goner. After the Zapdos stopped its attacking, the poor Pokémon was a steaming mess on the ground, it was a miracle it hadn't been killed. A stunned Akai returned it to its Poke-ball as he walked forward; blinking his eyes repeatedly to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. The zapdos turned to him and squawked, so he stopped in fear it would turn upon him.

"What the f…"

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><p><strong>I have this evil plan with Akai, but I'm not updating this in my next loop so you wont get to see what happens next for about three months. Gomen Nasai. IT will take awhile before I reveal it anyway.<strong>

**Reviews will be much appreciated and shall help me retain my sanity!**

**~Serah Villiers Valentine**


	8. A secret connection

**(3,772 words) It occurs to me I can write Lola's personality the best out of all my characters. I guess we being so alike it helps considerable, I just have to imagine me but stupid.**

**There's probably a whole lot of mistakes in this, I was distracted while editing.**

**Well, here's the update. Enjoy,**

**disclaimer: I own nothing but Minichu and Lola and the other human characters.**

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><p><span>8) A secret connection<span>

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><p>Lola and Akai's eyes were glued to the sight above them. A Zapdos hovered above the ground in the middle of the stadium. It squawked loudly, sending fear through all present. Behind her Char was the most confident, his eyes flaming angrily, if the untrustworthy bird were to turn around, he'd give his all to protect Lola no matter what the costs. Akai was a statue; icy fear had him on the spot, his startling red eyes stuck on the screeching Pokémon, waiting for it to make a move.<p>

If she looked, Lola would've noticed that the thunder bolt shaped amulet around her neck had lost its colour, and had turned see-through and grey. But like Akai, she couldn't take her eyes away from the Zapdos. She'd been fearful the first time she'd seen it, but she hadn't felt her life would be in danger, a thought in the back of her head had repeated over and over it wasn't real. But now, she knew this was the truth, it felt too real for a dream; there was no haze, her mind was clear.

Trepidation was the main topic in Akai's head, and with much unease about him, he took a step back. He wanted out; he couldn't take another minute with the creature in the room. The first step made the Zapdos eye him irritably, the second a sound reminiscent of a growl escaped it, the third made it squawk. So he stopped himself again, and his eyes full of apprehension made another appearance.

"What do you want!?" He hissed under his breath in frustration. The bloody thing looked ready to attack the first thing that moved, and he didn't want it to be him.

The Zapdos heard his question, and directed a shriek at him again. When Akai stiffened it dove, heading straight for him. Without thinking words left Lola's mouth before she could stop herself.

"Stop!" She screamed, panicking.

The bird halted mid-way, it flipped around in a blur of black and yellow, it's eyes glowing with fury were upon her now, making her breathing troubled as fear pounced on her. Char took a step forward and made himself into a living shield for Lola, his eyes reflecting the fury the Zapdos gave them both.

"I don't know what you want," Lola began in a trembling voice, her shaking hands held onto the grey amulet in silent pray. "But don't hurt him, he hasn't done anything, if you're angry them be angry at me!"

Char's head twisted around to face her, shocked and petrified at the statement. She was confident, but if the Pokémon was to understand, it'd put her life in danger, and he knew even if he was strong, he stood no chance against this opponent.

The Zapdos fell silent, as if it was contemplating Lola's appeal. For just a moment it calmed, and Akai used this as a chance to escape, running for the nearest exit without a care for the little girl and her Charmeleon left to face an unbeatable adversary.

When the moment ended, it let out an ear-splitting screech, and spread its wings out. Then it dove, like it had with Akai before Lola had stopped it. Char refused to let his dread take over his mind, and acted just as fast letting out a flame-thrower that engulfed the whole area. The Zapdos dived head first into the flames, cutting through them like it was a knife in butter. Out of ideas Char grabbed Lola's hand and ran out of its way. The Zapdos smashed into the ground, causing a mighty shake. Lola and Char were knocked off their feet and slammed into the dirt. Char got back up immediately and covered Lola, acting as her shield once again. The Zapdos shook off the dirt and flapped its wings to disperse the cloud of dust. The strength of the wind it created was enough to send Char flying. The Charmeleon landed roughly a couple metres away from Lola, now too injured himself to act as her protection. He remained conscious, but just barely. Lola herself lifted herself up, all her concern went to him, but she didn't run back to check if he was alright. She needed to finish this herself, or they were both goners.

The Zapdos squawked piercingly, she blocked her ears with her fingers as the sound became deafening, overhead the windows lining the arena shattered from the vibrations. When it stopped, she took her fingers out of her ears and held its stare. She could say she'd never been so terrified in her life, and knew she wasn't exaggerating

"This isn't the end." She screamed, a sentence meant for herself to allow her confidence to return, but being the cocky person she was, she wanted her opponent to hear it.

The Zapdos screeched back, she didn't care if it sent her deaf; she wasn't going to show it anymore fear. She took a deep breath, to steady herself in mind and body. Her hand subconsciously held the amulet tighter, so tight she was cutting her palm on its edge. It stung, she could feel the blood dripping down, but she didn't care, in this moment it wasn't a concern.

The Zapdos charged, and she stood her ground.

She had no ideas, she had nothing, but she refused to run. Not knowing where it would get her, she screamed at it assertively,

"This is not ending here!"

Then it happened, something her mind wouldn't comprehend until it was over. Golden light materialised from the amulet, and turned solid. It became chains and wrapped itself around the Zapdos, it screamed and fought against them, but the more it fought the more restrained it became until it was stuck with its wings firmly pressed against it sides, unable to move a muscle. The golden chains then became liquid and enveloped it before becoming solid once again and formed a cocoon which then shrunk to an orb the size of a small ball and returned to the talisman. The amulet shook as the creature it contained fought against its bonds, before it became still and the colour reverted back to its original.

Lola fell to the ground in an exhausted heat, with the exhilaration of the moment lost, she realised how tired she felt. It was as if the Zapdos had drained her energy. She turned her head to look at Char, the unconscious Pokémon looked like he was sleeping, with his chest expanding and contracting with each breath he took. She pulled herself up onto her feet so she could check if he was alright, but she didn't get there. Her exhaustion was worse than she had first thought, for when she took a step her sight blurred and her legs failed her. She fainted, with her Charmeleon by her side.

* * *

><p>She awoke the next day, in a hospital bed. Immediately Lola shot up, her mind acting faster than her body; then the blurriness she'd suffered with yesterday came back, and she almost fell off the bed, but a hand caught her a second before.<p>

"Oi be careful, the doctors said you need sleep, you shouldn't be moving around like that." A familiar Blonde boy informed her with a chuckle.

Lola's sore head lifted up to see Alex standing by her bed, with a hand on her shoulder and a heartening smile on his lips.

"You fainted after the battle, so was Char, though we could tell he hadn't been physically attacked by anything so it was clear you hadn't used him. What on earth happened? They couldn't even find where the gym leader had run off to."

Lola stared at him blankly; he didn't expect any response for a while. She was thinking, and when she was tired it always took her a million years to figure things out. But she acted much faster than his expectations, though it wasn't a response to him at all. Her hands felt the skin below her neck while she panicked.

"Ah! Where's my necklace!?"

Alex grabbed both her shoulders to steady her before she tried looking about for it; she wasn't allowed to move yet.

"It's on the table, jeez Lola, what's gotten into you?" He shakily asked bemused.

Lola let out a huff, and battered his hands away before she hopped off the bed.

"Hey where a-"He begun,

"Char is at the Pokémon centre right?" She questioned in a commanding tone as she picked up her necklace tied it around her neck.

"Yeah, so is Sparky and Mini. You aren't intending going there are you? The doctors said you need to sleep."

Disregarding him she flicked her hair so the necklace wasn't constraining it. "Then I'm heading there." She stated simply before striding out of the room.

Alex ran to the door hastily, and yelled at her disappearing form, "You moron, you can't up and leave, you need to sleep!"

But she was already out of earshot. He huffed and went back inside; he took a seat next to Bagon who was making paper planes out of ripped up magazine pages. He sighed and patted the clueless Pokémon's head,

"You know they won't make very good planes, plus I think we'll get in trouble if you continue to destroy their property." But as with Lola, he got ignored. He outwardly sighed and sat back in the chair. Being ignored was something he was used to.

* * *

><p>After she'd gotten off hospital grounds Lola ran the remaining distance to the Pokémon centre. She noticed immediately her balance was off, and that she had gotten puffed out not even half way there. Being the fit girl she was she knew any other time she would have gotten all the way in perfect condition. The summoning of the Zapdos had drained her of her energy; she regarded the amulet as something not much different from a poke ball, but it seemed she couldn't simply throw it to get it to release the Pokémon inside. It fed off her physically and mentally.<p>

When she reached her destination her legs buckled and she had to use the wall as a support. She grimaced; sometimes maybe ignoring Alex wasn't the brightest thing to do, considering he was the smarter one out of them. She bit her lip in frustration before entering the building. A layer of sweat had built up over her skin, and each breath came quick and fast, she needed oxygen.

Lola strode up to the counter, and shoved past the boy half way through a conversation with the nurse and commanded her,

"Where's Char?"

When she received bewildered looks from both the nurse and the boy, she tacked on, "My Charmeleon, there should be a Pikachu and minichu with him as well." After realising the sentence had made to sense to her only.

Recognition bloomed on the nurse's face; she cracked a broad smile and nodded in understanding. She lifted her arm and pointed to a hallway on the left. "Fifth room on the right, there's some Pokémon from two kids that versed the gym leader yesterday, I'm sure there was a Charmeleon among them."

Lola smiled back and waved goodbye before running down the hallway for Char. As she turned the corner the nurse yelled out, knowing well she couldn't have gotten out of earshot that fast,

"And don't push in next time, mind your manners."

Lola heard it but quickly disregarded it; if she hadn't learned manners by now she wasn't going to be bothered with 'em. She followed the directions to the room and found it right away. The room had a window covering the entire wall which she could look into and see everything inside. Most of her and Alex's pokemon were in the pokeballs on the table on the left side of the room, Char was in the middle of the room with a nurse looking after his injuries. He growled each time she touched him and it was clear the poor girl was scared out of her wits. Lola banged on the glass with her fist and called,

"Oi, Char, you alright?"

The Charmeleon looked up to the sound of someone's muffled voice, his face lit up when he spotted Lola's self-confident grin on the other side of the glass. The nurse looked to her funnily with wonder placed in the corner of her eyes. When Lola had drawn her attention as well, she called to the nurse,

"Hey can I talk to him alone for a minute?" She asked pleadingly pointing a finger to Char.

The nurse held a befuddled expression for a moment, but taking it as an excuse to get away from the frightening Charmeleon, she complied and rushed out of the room, taking only a second to say, "Sure take as long as you want."

Lola rolled her eyes at the silly woman and walked right in, planting herself on the nearest seat she smiled at Char who at current sent her looked asking, '_what're you doing here', _so she guessed Alex had told him earlier she was resting in a hospital bed, like she should be doing right now.

"I'm here to see you, nothing wrong with that is there?" She pouted childishly before switching the frown for a smile and adding, "Heh, don't get your knickers in a knot I'll take a rest after I leave. I'm not stupid."

Char didn't look to have taken her seriously, Lola didn't care for a lot of things, it was common for her to not care at all when she was told not to do something because she wasn't healthy. As soon as him and the others were fine she'd be back into training them to make up for her near failure in her last battle, whether she was back in good health or not. That was her way, too carefree and too stubborn.

Lola fumbled with the thunder bolt amulet, eyeing it with deep interest, his grey eyes darted to the object, glaring at it with hatred blazing in his eyes.

"What did I do to make Zapdos come out do you think?" She gazed with begging eyes to Char, he held her stare, his cluelessness made him feel guilty for not helping at all, and his eyes reflected those emotions. Pretty soon he failed to keep her gaze, and lowered his and fiddled with a chipped off piece of tile to while away the time.

"Was it because I was desperate?" His face whispered 'maybe', still no help.

"Was I that afraid of losing that I subconsciously summoned it?" No response.

"Did I call it back, was that why we were saved? Is it under my control?" He shrugged. Lola bit her lip hard and groaned, heaving a sigh of frustration.

She ran her sweaty hands through her messy unbrushed locks of brown hair. "I don't get this! It's too confusing! If it's under my control why did it attack me? Do the others have any idea about theirs at all!?" Again and again she repeated the same words, the infuriation in her tone slowly increasing.

"I hate this." She kicked out with her leg, and if Char hadn't ducked she would have hit him square in the face. But in her sour mood she failed to take notice.

Char hopped up onto the arm of the chair and patted Lola's shoulder sympathetically. His short tempered sister despised not knowing what was happening. She always wanted to know where she was heading, where each foot had to step. She needed to know what would block her way and what wouldn't, so she knew what to smash through and what to keep the same. She needed to know everything, or she'd lose it like she was now.

She exhaled crossly, and turned deathly silent, Char tilted his head, curiosity rising as Lola lifted up the amulet and stared at it with eyes a mixture of maddened and brash.

"You know what, screw all that, soon as we're well, I'm figuring this damn thing out."

Instantly Char hopped off the chair to stand at her front, he made an X with his arms, his eyes pleading with her to take back what she'd said.

"Chaar!" He begged.

But the girl above him didn't frown, she didn't look upset, but she by no rights was giving in to him. She smiled; the very same cocky smile she did every day, and let out a short but happy chuckle.

"Hey, it's better to try than do nothing at all, what if it attacks again? Who's to say we'll be so lucky? Maybe I'll get Alex on my side too."

Char face palmed and sighed, dropping to the ground a defeated heap. Lola was too stubborn, she'd never take any one's ideas side her own, even if it was from her dear twin brother.

* * *

><p>A lone man strode through the back halls of the gym, the place was empty, void of all life sides him. The lights were off; no one would be able to see him, even with his startling red eyes.<p>

Akai headed into a back room, filled with boxes to the roof, and took out his phone. He dialled a number he hadn't called in ages. He put it to his ear and waited, listening to the beats impatiently. On the sixth ring, the receiver picked up.

"Hello?" A young feminine voice spoke up.

"You're not the only one." He laughed sadistically.

"Not the only one of what?" She questioned with a giggle, of the same tone as his, "You need to be more specific."

"The amulets, I just versed a girl with one, and I'm pretty sure the boy with her had one too, only he didn't use his." He informed her, a high pitched excited laugh exploded from the other end, Akai ripped his ear away before the girl sent him deaf.

"Oh you just found out? I've known that since the day they found them, in fact a young boy already had taken one, long before me. So what did she use to attack you? Did she know what she was doing? Was she good at controlling it?" She continued to ask questions but Akai cut her off with a snigger.

"She summoned a freaking Zapdos on accident; she must've been more freaked out than me. I was just bloody surprised to see a kid with Kyoudo Pokémon."

"Hey hey, I'm a kid too. And from the sounds of things, unlike her I know how to handle a Kyoudo."

He laughed at her last comment. "True, but you'd be much stronger than those kids now eh? A whole different level."

"Agreed, was she loosing against you? Did her worry and fear make her bring it out?"

"Yeah, she looked like losing would kill her, but even so she refused to make her last pokemon fight my Poliwhirl, then boom, it happened." Akai leaned back on the wall.

"Eh?" The girl said before the line went silent for a minute. "She refused to use her last pokemon? What did she look like?" She commanded him under the guise of a question.

Akai paused to wonder what on earth her appearance had to do with anything, but when the girl began impatient grumbling he quickly replied.

"She had long brown hair, to her waist and it was really curvy."

"That's not enough Akai!" The other spat.

"She had bright blue eyes and a real spiky fringe. Oh and she had these bangs that were shaped like thunder bolts." Akai was forced to bring his ear away from the phone when an ear-splitting laugh broke out from the other end.

"Jesus woman." He muttered when her laughter subsided.

"Why am I not Surprised Lola's the one who found the cave? Aww, I wonder if I should feel sorry I stole the chance of a Moltrace off her."

Akai's confusion sent him into silence, but the girl didn't mind for she continued.

"She'll never get control; she's too brash and stupid to concentrate. She'll kill her and Char the next time the Kyoudo breaks lose." And with that she hung up on Akai.

The man stifled a laugh, "Damn Sania you crazy bitch. 'Lola', I remember now, that was your sister's name wasn't it? Poor girl, for having Sania as a sister." Akai shut the phone and stuffed it back into his pocket; a broad smile gracing his conceited face as he left the building.

* * *

><p>Sania shut her phone, above her was the night sky, filled with an infinite amount of stars. It was beautiful, but the sky did not hold her interest. The put the mobile back in her pocket, and scratched the head of the sleepy umbreon by her side.<p>

"Oh Lola what have you gotten yourself into?" She giggled. "A Kyoudo's not something you can handle; I wonder if your even survive? It's going to kill you, whether it deals you a death blow or the summoning eats up your strength. You're not as good as you think."

She leaned back on the grassy hill, and looked up at the bright shining stars, humming quietly.

"But if you survive, I wouldn't mind seeing you fight." She paused, "Hehe, that's not a bad idea actually."

Sania jumped off the ground, awakening the napping Pokémon by her side. Her hands wrapped themselves around the flame shaped talisman around her neck. Straightaway fire burst forth, and the wind battered her skin and made her black hair whip her face. When the fire subsided, a Moltrace stood in its place.

"Molly, we're taking a visit to Kiki, I'm going to see my dear sister before she kills herself in her stupidity. It's be an excuse to visit Aoi as well." The bird lowered its head in understanding. Her Umbreon jumped up onto the bird's back, and she followed after it. With a flap of its magnificent wings, they were off.

* * *

><p><strong>I have no idea how things turned out this way, sometimes my stories write themselves.<strong>

**Can some one give me a Life sized Charmeleon plushie?**

**Jya ne,**

**~Serah Villiers Valentine**


	9. You didn't hear it from me

**(3,349 words) This story writes itself, I don't do anything and it's all there long before I need to write it. Awesome but with a mind as dark as I that's not a good thing. If my mind keeps getting her way this may end up as M. Oh joy.**

**I love writing char, and Lola too but not as much. He seems so human on occasion and it's so fun to write I can not describe it in words. Hope you enjoy the non-existent people I'm talking to.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own this I just own the human characters and Mini.**

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><p><span>9) You didn't hear this from me<span>

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><p>Lola stood with a wide field in front of her. She'd gone off the forest track that eventually led to the next town to reach here. Far off were mountains, and beyond that an ocean, but at her feet was a field that stretched for miles. Perfect. Char stood a distance behind her, Sparky atop his shoulder, Mini clinging to his leg, partially hiding in the grass. They were to protect her if anything went wrong; they all knew that only Char stood a chance against a raging Zapdos, which in itself was extremely small, but they wanted to try to help if things took a turn for the worse, Char could use all the help he could get. Lola had left the hospital early in the morning with the sun yet to rise over the horizon, long before Alex would wake and find her gone. The boy was still against her trying to tame the wild Pokémon which was clearly out of her ability to control, and had throughout the past week been trying to convince his friend otherwise, he had not let up at all but still she chose to remain deaf to his pleas. Once she had chosen to do this her choice could not be changed, not even Char had been able to stop her; he had given in and chose instead not to stop her but give help if needed.<p>

Char stiffened when Lola's hand moved, readying himself for anything that was to come, Sparky and Mini chose to copy the movement just in case. Lola's hand went to the talisman around her neck, she didn't know what exactly had caused her to summon it at the gym a week ago, sure thanks to the Zapdos she had won, but that was hardly her concern despite how much she adored winning. Had she been so terrified of the idea of losing when her friend had seemingly won so easily? Had it been jealously that had gotten the best of her? Or just plain fear of the loss itself? Had her fear tricked her mind into feeling as if she was in danger, and needed saving? Or did it have nothing to do with anything and just wished for help that she knew would not come?

Lola ran all those ideas through her head; she couldn't tame it unless she knew for sure how to summon it first. In the end, she decided to see if her want for help had caused it, when every other idea came up with no results. She bit her lip, and as if sensing her heightened fear Char readied himself to attack, Sparky and Mini distanced themselves from him and readied themselves as well. And soon enough, a flash of golden light appeared before their eyes, changing their surroundings to purer gold with no ground and no sky; and above their heads a Zapdos hovered high in the sky. After a moment the green field and early morning sky reappeared, with the Zapdos still present.

At first it did not notice them, instead it chose to inspect it's new surroundings with curiosity, it's head turned from side to side, eyeing each detail carefully. Lola held her breath, waiting for it to realise it was not alone, when time began to pass and the Zapdos seemed to be about to fly away she realised she'd have to alert it herself. She released the breath she had held in and took in a new breath and screamed at the top of her voice making Char and the others finch,

"Hey Zapdos! Down here!" She changed her stance so she'd look as confident as possible when the bird inclined its head and saw the small group of one girl and her three Pokémon, who it all dwarfed. The Zapdos fully twisted around then, screeching as if issuing a challenge; he took notice that the girl who did nothing but block her ears surely had no idea what it wanted, and neither did the tiny orange thing hiding behind the menacing Charmeleon. The Charmeleon stood tall, ready to attack if needed, the Zapdos took note of its attitude; it was clearly protective of the others here and was fine with answering the larger Pokémon's challenge. The odd-looking Pikachu at its side also remained in a fighting pose, but clearly it didn't do so for a want to protect but for the fight itself. The Zapdos decided that these two would be interesting opponents. It screeched again as a warning to ready them, and sensing its intentions Char rushed forward followed closely by Sparky, they stopped in front of Lola and Char growled at her to get back. Lola ran back a fair distance just in case, picking up Mini as she went knowing the tiny Pokémon did not have the same courage as the other two.

Sparky let out a few sparks to tell the Zapdos he was not scared of it, and was prepared if it wanted to attack. Char growled at him, to call him over-confident, sure both Pokémon had a lot of potential, but right now they were weak and Char knew that all too well. Ignoring him Sparky let off more, boasting now just to piss off his new opponent. The Zapdos wasn't going to have any more of the tiny creature claiming it was better than him, he dove heading straight for it. Char knowing what damage it could deal grabbed Sparky and jumped out-of-the-way. The Zapdos smashed into the ground, ripping up the grass and knocking up large rocks from the ground. It picked itself up and shook off the dirt. Char readied himself for another dodge but the overconfident Sparky disregarded the fact that he could've been killed and attacked. He unleashed his strongest electric attack upon the bird, which brushed it off like it was nothing and shot electric his way, in the nick of time Char pulled Sparky out-of-the-way, who clearly still wanted to fight. The Pokémon didn't have the ability to learn his lesson; he never knew what was going too far.

Char sent a look to Lola, a plea of help hidden behind flaming angry eyes, it startled her but she was hardly surprised. Lola's hands clasped around the thunder bolt-shaped amulet and she put all her concentration into it. If she could summon it she could bring it back, she had once before and by god she'd do it again. '_I beg you, don't hurt them. Return! Return! Return!_' she repeated over and over hoping for a result before it was too late. The Zapdos stiffened, knowing what was coming. Just like before golden light erupted from the grayed amulet and turned into solid golden chains that shone brighter than the sun. The Zapdos screamed as it fought against the bonds but it was a losing battle as the chains soon turned into a cocoon which shrunk to the size of a poke-ball and returned to Lola's necklace, which as well returned it's golden colour. Char sighed a sigh of relief and dropped to the ground in a heap, exhausted physically and mentally after what his stupid sister had caused. Sparky looked around not understanding fully what had happened, seeing as he still wanted to fight and that had been the first time he'd see it return. Mini, who was perched on Lola's left shoulder, began to congratulate her happily, just before he had to hop off when she fell to the ground in a similar fashion as her brother.

Char picked himself up and sat in the grass next to his sister. He was frowning, a clear sign he wanted her to stop. Lola pouted at him and he got her answer well before she said it.

"Oh come on, I got it to return didn't I? I'll just have to remember to do that before it charges next time alright? And this time I promise I'll try to talk to it so it won't attack us. It just needs to understand that we're not a threat; that must be why it's attacking I think."

Char sighed and shook his head, not in disagreement but in defeat. She was too stubborn and he didn't have it in him to argue, he indulged her too much he knew, but it wasn't in his nature to stop her. He got up to ready himself for Zapdos again just as Lola herself got up and went to call it. Her hands went to the amulet and in a much shorter time than before it appeared in the sky. The time it took to observe its surroundings took a much shorter time than before, as now it was only recognising that he had been here already, and the moment he realised that, he turned around expecting that the odd group was still in the field. Sparky went to attack it but quickly Mini jumped on top of his head and weighed him down so he couldn't move. Lola and Char held their gaze with the flying Pokémon who was trying to intimidate them. When he made a movement hinting a possible dive Lola charged forward, far away from Char's protection and yelled at the angry bird before he could do anything from stopping her from doing anything rash,

"We're not enemies! We don't mean to hurt you! You do not need to attack, can't you understand we mean no harm!?"

But it did no good and it headed right for her, before Char could reach her Lola grabbed her necklace and begged in her head for it to return, releasing the golden chains that trapped it inside the amulet once again. Char reached her and put a hand on her shoulder as she kneeled over and crouched as a wave of exhaustion hit her. In between breaths she stated:

"Okay, first and second was no go, let's hope third time is the charm." He nodded understanding her desperate need to get this beast under control.

Time flew by and soon it was midday and all the results were the same. Lola would release it from its bonds then say some variation of what she had the second time, trying her hardest to make it understand they were not a threat. She wanted to be friends, not enemies. It never listened to her, it ignored her pleas and begging expression and would go to attack; so she'd return it a second before they got hurt. But the constant summoning and returning had left her an exhausted heap, when noon reared its head Char forced her to take a break. She was sweating like mad and couldn't stand straight, not to mention the horrible headaches she was suffering. From concern he got her to take a break and eat the food she had packed before coming here. He gave up his share and let her have it knowing she needed the extra fuel far more than he, she crawled into a ball and silently sulked whilst eating it, while next to them Sparky and Mini jokingly wrestled over the slices of bread they were supposed to share.

When that break passed she was back at it, all with the same results. And as the sun began to dip into the horizon she started to suffer the same symptoms, the loss of balance, the exhaustion and headaches that were splitting her head apart. Only this time she could not be convinced to stop, and not to anyone's surprise, she soon fainted.

* * *

><p>Lola awoke well after the sun had set; the moon now sat high in a sky covered in stars. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to her new dark surroundings. Slowly she became aware of a strange heat and orange light by her side, shifting her position she sat up in a sitting position and eyed the recently lit fire. At least a minute had passed before her drowsy mind started to wonder who had made it, Char wouldn't have been able to make such a neat pile of wood under the flames, and Mini and Sparky couldn't have had any idea at all to make one; a person had found her it seemed, was it Alex she wondered?<p>

Lifting up her head a mite she spotted a man sitting by the fire, far too old to be Alex, not like it was an old man he was still quite young. At first she couldn't tell if she'd seen him before but as her eyes adjusted she began to recognise the details. The long brown trench coat and long hair tied in a pony-tail with a fringe dyed multiple shades of blue.

"Akai?" She mumbled the name of the gym leader she had versed a week ago, in the battle which had first awoken the Zapdos.

"Yeah kid?" He replied, proving she wasn't hallucinating and she really was seeing him.

"Why are you here?"

He sighed and cracked his neck, "Figured you'd want to try to get control of the Kyoudo Pokémon, so I've been heading down here for the past week to see if you were here. Seemed like the best spot for it."

"Oh alright." Her tired mind decided it made sense, not questioning why he seemed to have more details on something that should have nothing to do with him. "Where's Char, Sparky and Mini too." She questioned after she finally noticed they clearly weren't there.

"Well after I stopped that psychotic Pikachu of yours from eating my face with the help of your Charmeleon, who I honestly think wanted to do the same, I got him to go back to stop that friend of yours from worrying further. It took a long time trust me, that thing's protective of you."

Lola nodded and twisted her body so she faced the fire and could warm herself. "What's a Kyoudo Pokémon by the way?" She asked with an innocent expression. Akai looked at her with his red eyes wide,

"Ummm, you're kidding right?" He laughed shakily from shock. She shook her head to say no.

He face-palmed and heaved a loud sigh, muttering 'jeez.' "You summoned one on me and you don't know? What a clueless moron you are!"

She pouted muttering 'well I wouldn't be clueless if you'd just tell me.' He had to have heard her because not a second later he went into an explanation.

"The Zapdos has it beaten in its head to attack the first thing it sees, because it's a guardian. Hundreds of years ago there was supposed to be these people, warriors I guess you'd call them, who controlled Pokémon of amazing strength. They kept war from occurring in a time of great catastrophes, but soon these warriors' lives were reaching their end. Over the years many people had tried to steal the source of their power, their Pokémon; so to avoid these horrible criminals from obtaining them they sealed them in amulets and hid them. People searched for years and never found them. As the years went by these warriors and their Pokémon became nothing but a legend, Just another story for mothers to tell their children as a bedtime story. My mother retold the story almost every night at my sister's request, I' tired of it quickly but she never did. Both of them believed that the story was real; I just thought they were crazy. That was until I met a girl not much older than you, with a flame shaped talisman that she was more than welcome to reveal sealed away a Moltrace-"

"A Moltrace!" Lola screamed, suddenly wide awake. "What did she look like!? How tall was she!? What colour hair did she have!? What colour eyes!?"

Akai kept quiet during her barrage of questions as he waited for her to stop, his expression slowly forming into a scowl as he realised that wasn't coming anytime soon. Noticing his venomous glare Lola covered her mouth with her hands, blushing in embarrassment.

Akai rolled his eyes and pointed a finger to the middle of his head, to his hair or his eyes she couldn't quite figure. "Black." He said, and no more.

"Black what?" Lola pouted.

"Black."

"Black what!? Black hair? Black eyes?"

"Black." When he grinned at her it finally occurred to her he was trying to annoy her as she had him. "Stubborn aren't you?"

"I'd take it you're the same type. Guess that's a bad thing in your situation."

Lola tilted her head in confusion, "Situation?"

Akai bit his lip, "Look I don't even know whether to say you have bad luck or good luck. I mean you have two Espio Pokémon; sure you've an advantage that you're so close to Lumi but still that's a miracle. But that Kyoudo is dangerous, I'm not even going to go into the amazing fact you found it, but your life is in danger."

Lola Swallowed the lump in her throat and let him continue.

"They have it built into them to attack, attack, attack; that's all. They have to protect their masters and that's all they can think about. You are its new master but it doesn't recognise you as so, obviously it remembers its old master as its master and surely not you. It must think since it can't see his master anywhere that you killed him and stole his Pokémon from his corpse." Akai admitted to his dark assumptions. "It doesn't know how much time has passed and that his old master is long dead, how is it supposed to know considering it's been locked in an amulet in some deep dark woods? It's confused."

"So I have to convince it I didn't kill its master, and that I am its new master?" Lola cut in; he sent her a poisonous look so she stopped.

He nodded but added, "It's not as simple as that. It needs to be controlled, it answers to strength any weakness and you're gone. You want to be its friend but it doesn't understand that kind of thing. It understands 'master and servant'. And that's how your relationship must be if you want a chance of getting the berserker under control. But as I've noticed you view Pokémon as equal and for one that Charmeleon as your sibling. You don't have it in you to order that thing around like a slave."

Lola nodded sadly, she could never do something so harsh, it wasn't in her to treat a Pokémon so badly.

"Even if you try to boss it around it's bound to see the doubt in your eyes, and see the doubt as weakness. It'll attack no matter what you do. So you need to keep it sealed in the amulet or else."

"Then why don't I just get rid of it if I have no chance of controlling him?" Lola interjected with hopeful eyes.

Akai shook his head with a frown. "I won't blame you for saying stuff like that, seeing as you've never heard of the legend. My mother knew a lot about it and I can assure you you can't simply get rid of it. It's yours for life."

Lola's shoulder's slumped in defeat. "So what's going to happen to me?"

Akai put a hand on her shoulder to offer his sympathies, his expression grim. "It may not happen next time it is summoned but it will happen trust me if things stay as they are; you're going to die."

Lola's eyes went wide as bulbs, her hands went to cover her agape mouth as fear fuelled tears formed in the corner of her eyes. Akai stood up and kicked the fire until it died and turned to embers.

"I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do to help. But just one thing, if you live long enough to meet another who knows as much about the Kyoudo as I do, you didn't hear this from me, or it's off with my head."

With that he left her alone by the embers, to take in the information he had given her.

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><p><strong>I like the gym leaders in this, Akai's a fun character. And if anyone is wondering yes there'll all be named after colours (Akai=red in japanese). Though so far the only other's I have is Aoi, Midori and Shiro. Which are girls. I need to know more colours, I have Kuro (Black) but I can't think of any others.<strong>

**Please review or I'll send my assassin after you. **

**jya ne!**

**~Serah Villiers Valentine**


	10. Shock

**(4,636 words) This came out longer than intended but that's alright. It's only by about 1000 words longer.**

**I've been made to take a quick break off writing since my beta was taking so long to edit my chapters. I'm making my sister do them since she's better at editing and we live at the same house so it makes everything so much more easier!**

**Don't know who I'm talking to no one reads this.**

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><p><span><strong>Disclaimer: I own only Lola and nothing else. Pokemon is not mine.<strong>

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><p><span>10) Shock<span>

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><p>Lola yawned loudly, and rolled her shoulders. It was early morning, and she and Alex were well on their way to the next town. There was no gym leader there but Alex had said it'd be a good idea to stay for a while since she desperately needed some rest. He'd managed to get all the information out of her regarding how she'd tried to gain control over the Zapdos; so he knew that was what left her in this state. She was drowsy and her balance remained bad. He's said that he had a relative in the town they were heading to, so they could stay for as long as they wanted to free of charge. He and Char had agreed it was a good idea. The Charmeleon had also promised he would keep a close eye on Lola to make sure she didn't sneak out and try to tame the Zapdos again. Though he of course, knew something that Alex didn't, the words Akai had given her. She had only told Alex as much as needed, since she didn't need him to worry over her so much, whereas Char had been told all of it. The charmeleon knew that Akai had been there anyway, so him questioning her about their conversation would have been unavoidable in the end. She told him all what Akai said, he was impressed by the information the man had, but deeply concerned over what he believed would soon happen to his dear sister: if things went on as they were, she would die.<p>

At midday they rested and Lola, Alex, Char and Bagon ate the sandwiches Alex had made for them. According to Char it would be a bad idea to let Lola help with anything food related, a claim Lola backed up by saying that the bread would apparently be in a million pieces now if she had made them.

Their surroundings had changed steadily from a dew soaked forest to an open plain full of wild flowers. Lola had initially giggled at the sight, running amongst the army of flowers, the bored Bagon joined in as Char and Alex looked on with a sigh. After she came close to exhausting herself she'd stopped and re-joined Alex, walking at a normal pace. Char reprimanded her for doing that when they still had quite a distance ahead of them. The flower meadow would soon disappear and be replaced with a blank plain of long green grass that stretched ahead all the way to the next town. At this point, they were only half way through the flowers. After tiring of the constant walking Lola let Sparky out and let him enjoy the sight, but also to give herself some entertainment.

The Pikachu gasped at the sight, he had never seen one like it before. He was from Lumi, and though a it was surely magnificent forest, it had no open spaces like this, especially not open spaces that were filled with beautiful colourful flowers.

"Amazing right?" Lola asked, laughing.

"Pika!" The excited Pikachu exclaimed happily, before he hopped off her shoulder and ran around the field ahead of them. No one cared to stop him, seeing as Sparky had so much energy it wasn't like he was going to exhaust himself like Lola and Bagon had done.

"He makes for good entertainment he does." Alex joked, only half-serious.

Lola replied with a chuckle, "Yep, he sure does." She was sure that when she looked back to Char, he had a grin on his face.

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><p>Eventually, due to Lola's running about earlier, they were forced to take another break before they reached town. If she hadn't exhausted herself with her running, they'd not have to do so, and they could be well on their way to the town. This was much to the annoyance of Alex and had initially caused an argument between the two. At some point Char had shut them up, by forcing them to realise they were going in circles and that Lola was too stupid and stubborn to understand the problem. Somehow after they settled down, this caused Alex to question more deeply what the hell Lola was thinking when she was trying to learn how to control the Zapdos a couple days back. She had started off saying that she just wanted to know how to control it, and not really anything else. But as this was what he had already been told, and he was convinced there was more to it, so she ended up saying the different ways she'd tried to control it. Which were for the most part just different variations of her trying to tell it that she was not a threat. She again avoided speaking of her and Akai's conversation, and morphed it into her coming up with the idea that maybe it didn't understand a 'friend' type relationship but maybe instead a 'master and servant' type relationship, which she knew she couldn't do so she'd given up; only after she had made herself an exhausted mess.<p>

There was a funny look in Alex's eyes as she explained this which she couldn't ignore, she could tell he didn't think she was lying or leaving something out, but something different. She'd known him for years, so usually she could figure it out when it was written all over his face, but right now it was like whatever his eyes read was in a foreign language. This bothered her greatly, but something stopped her from prying like she always did. So instead she bit her tongue and tried to forget about it. She sensed an uneasy yet angry aura coming off from Char, she took it as that he'd noticed Alex's strange look as well, but didn't want to ignore it as she did. He certainly didn't like how the boy was keeping something secret from him precious sister.

Whatever it was, it wasn't the time to ask.

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><p>They reached the town at sunset; Lola smiled happily at the golden sky above them. She stretched and sat down on the grass; Char copied the movement and sat down beside her.<p>

Alex sent them a look and told them that they needed to keep going. His relative's house was close so it wasn't much more for them to go. But Lola replied that she'd rather stay here for a little while, have a nap under the beautifully lit sky. Not having it in him to argue at the moment, Alex went on to greet his relative and get things in order for them to stay. Bagon went with him, climbing up onto his shoulder. Char and Lola lay back on the soft grass that was heaven after a long day of traveling.

Alex had things organised soon and came back to inform them before heading over to the house. He pointed the place out to them and that was the last they saw of him for the day. Lola and Char stayed outside until after dark. They hadn't had time by themselves since this had begun, and they were well enjoying it now.

"Hey Char? You saw that look in his eye right?" Lola piped up, after tiring of the growing silence that had persisted since the sun had sunk below the horizon.

"Charr?" He asked,

"Yes in Alex's, who else?" She grumbled.

He scowled but the angry look only lasted a second and then it was gone. "Cha." He answered without much thought.

"Thought so, do you know why? It was like his face was speaking a foreign language." She asked.

"Charr." He sadly replied.

Lola groaned and bit her lip. "Damn, I don't either. I thought if anyone would know you would, seeing as you are the smart one. What's with him, does he know something he won't tell us?"

"Char char."

"Only Maybe? Why do you think maybe? I think something is really up, but he's being a bastard and not telling us."

"Char char."

"Can you stop saying maybe?" She laughed when he repeated himself.

Char was silent for a moment before grinning at her. Instantly she knew what his response would be.

"Char char."

Lola flicked him in the forehead and poked her tongue out.

"Not funny!" She pouted childishly.

"Char cha-" He was about to say again before a voice cried out and interrupted him.

"Princess! Oh princess!? Where are you!?" A female voice rang out from somewhere in front of them, but it was too dark to see who.

Curious, the duo hopped up off the ground and went to investigate. They found a tall, light haired brunette girl with a search light pacing around and repeatedly calling out, "Princess." Whoever that was. She wore a bright orange blouse that had green cuffs and collar. As well as a dark blue denim dress that had straps reminiscent of those from overalls. She also had on blue gum boots and an oversized green beret. Her hair was done up in twin pigtails that reached her shoulders. Lola thought she looked awfully geeky, but saw that as no reason not to help her.

"Hey, you okay?" She called out. The stranger caught sight of her and an overwhelmingly glad expression lit up her face when she saw the young girl and the Charmeleon by her side.

"Oh I'm fine, but my darling princess has gone missing." She explained with a sigh.

"Your princess?" Lola cocked her head, baffled.

"Well, she's a Pikachu if that helps. I was wiping up the dishes and then I went back to my room and she wasn't there so I looked all around the house and she still wasn't there so I went outside and thought I saw her for a moment so I went back inside and got my flash light since it is like really dark and went looking for her but I can't find her anywhere and then you came up and was like 'hey, you okay?' and then here we are!" She grinned broadly, Lola felt like commending her for saying all that in the one breath, but also a little creeped out. This girl was giving out a….crazy aura.

"Ooookay then. Do you any need help?" She took a step back fearing the reaction she would get. She was right to fear it.

"Ooh yes please thank you very much!" She squealed, pulling Lola into a hug, almost suffocating her before she finally let go. "My name's Kalisity-Charise, Please to meet you what is yours!" She screamed so loud that Lola had to block her ears.

"Lola, nice name…Kalisity."

"Kalisity-Charise." She corrected.

"Kalisity-Charise." Lola sighed, "This is Char, she pointed to him, and the chameleon took a step back. But that didn't stop Kalisity, like she had with Lola, from grabbing hold of him and hugging him as well.

"Oh my god what a cute Charmeleon! And what a gorgeous name Char is!" Then she froze for a moment and the other two feared the worst. "Wait a second!" She yelled suddenly as she loosened her hug but didn't let go. She shined her torch at his face which hurt his eyes and made him squint, growling at her; but the overexcited girl took no notice.

"He looks funny. He's so dark, what's with this!?"

"Maybe 'cause it_ is_ so dark? It's night time remember." Lola muttered, drained mentally. Finally they had met someone more annoying than her, and that meant that this girl was well over the line of what was possible to stand, which she herself was balancing on like a tightrope.

"No, no it's not that." Kalisity shot back at her. "It's him and only him, but what it is I don't know!" She hummed in thought. Lola slowly distanced herself from the girl, Char's eyes pleaded for help but Lola could only shrug at him, seeing as she had no idea what to do either. This girl was nuts and that was it. "Hmmmm." Kalisity hummed louder, and rubbed his back, the Charmeleon jumped in shock.

"Ah that's it!" Kalisity squealed in delight. She jumped up and pointed her finger right at Lola's face. It made her feel more than a little uncomfortable. "He's an Espio!" She yelled.

"Eh?"

"You know, those weird messed up Pokémon who're meant to be stronger than others that look funny too, kinda like a shiny but weirder, he's one right!?" She hopped in the same spot gleefully.

"Maybe….?" Lola mumbled, wanting to just leave and never return. But she had already promised to help find this girl's Pikachu, so that would have to come later. She heard Char snort when she said what he had been repeating only a little while before. She glared at him with her face reading, 'not funny'.

"Ooh that's so cool, he can fly right?" Kalisity scream-asked.

"No…why?"

"Cause Espio Pokémon usually have something that their evolvements have and they shouldn't have so he should have wings but I can't see them so I felt his back and then there were these ridges so I though they must be his wings but they are in hiding!" Kalisity continued her obnoxious jumping.

"Well, he doesn't know how to fly. He's never tried." Lola explained to her, trying not to let her voice betray her and let Kalisity know how she felt about her.

"Hmm." Kalisity stopped her jumping and began to stroke an imaginary beard. "Well I guess that's because it's not instinct for a Charmeleon to fly, well he will when he becomes a Charzard then won't he?" She assumed.

"He has a never stone stuck in the roof of his mouth." Lola revealed.

"Oh man that means he won't then, oh okay no flying then." She giggled.

"Um, Kalisity?"

"Kalisity-Charise." She was corrected again.

"Aren't we meant to be searching for a Pikachu?"

"Oh crap yeah we are! Come on let's go this way!" She grasped Lola's arm and pulled her along with her as she went off in search of her Princess. Char followed them at a slower pace, glad to keep a distance between him and Kalisity-Charise.

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><p>They searched a little ways out from the town; Kalisity flicked the torchlight everywhere, sometimes getting it in the eyes of her temporary companions. Lola and Char were getting into a terrible mood, but the over excited girl didn't seem to notice one bit. This was proven when Kalisity decided she'd start up a conversation to make things less boring,<p>

"Hey, Loooola?" She drawled.

"Yeah?" Lola grimaced, fearing any word that came out of the girl's mouth.

"Have you heard of a Kyoudo Pokémon?" She asked out of the blue, her tone deeply curious.

"Eh?" Lola said out of sheer shock, which was mistaken for confusion.

"A Kyoudo Pokémon." Kalisity repeated. "Supposedly they were these super strong Pokémon that were ruled over by these super strong warriors but people kept trying to steal 'em so their masters locked them up in crystals and hid them in some deep dark forest somewhere, Mamma told me all about them when I was younger."

Lola paused in thought, she couldn't say she hadn't heard of kyoudo Pokémon because that'd be lying, and she might be caught out. But she needed a reason for knowing of them . It was then she remembered something that Akai had mentioned when he'd been telling her all about them, it made for a good answer.

"Oh yeah, I know what they are, my mum used to tell me of them at bedtime since my little sisters were always asking for her to tell them the story. I got real tired of it but they never did, why do you ask anyway?" Sure that was also a lie, but as she was only mimicking the story Akai had told her a few days ago it was easy to copy the tone he'd used.

"Well Mamma also said that the crystals were shaped like the elements that the Pokémon were, and your necklace reminded me of them is all, though I'm sure that it's only a necklace, don't go thinking I think that it's actually a crystal or nothing, it's clearly fake." Yes…clearly fake, Lola sighed in relief inside her head, glad that Kalisity was a total idiot.

"Sooo…" Kalisity decided to change the subject then, "You two beat any gym leaders?"

"Oh, only Akai. Weird guy." Lola chuckled, weird was an understatement, but it was best that she didn't go into detail of why she thought so.

"I thought he was too, " Kalisity-Charise burst out laughing, she had to stop walking for a moment so she could hold her stomach. Lola watched on confounded by how such a little thing provoked such a massive reaction.

"So you've beat him eh?" Lola forced of shakily, hoping it'd stop her laughing.

"Oh yeah." Kalisity turned back and grinned, sending the light of her torch in their direction again, Char growled fiercely as it blinded him. "I've beat all the one's in this region, oh and also In Johto and Kanto and Hoenn and Sinoh." She stated like it was nothing.

Lola gaped at her, "WHAT!?" She'd taken her for a total useless loser.

"What? I've beat all the elite four in those regions as well, they were much harder trust me! Freaking Kiki's Elite four are a bunch of crazy people. Took me twelve times, twelve! A given they were the first lot but come on!"

"You have got to be freaking kidding me?" Lola screamed back in response "YOU have beaten a bunch of Elite four? Wow, remind me never to judge a book by the cover!"

"Eh?" Kalisity gasped, "Did you think I was weak!? Now that's rude!"

Lola shut her mouth and blushed, she'd actually been trying not to be rude to this incredibly obnoxious girl, but she'd gone ahead and done it anyway. Char sighed and took a couple steps back, expecting an argument. But this did not happen as Kalisity-Charise quickly settled down and asked instead,

"Soo, how old are you Lola?" She smiled like a retard.

"Ten, you?" She asked back.

"Seventeen!"

"Eh?" Lola gaped at her again, going off of her obnoxious and immature personality Lola had taken Kalisity to be about her age, not seven years her senior. Though when she actually bothered to take a good look at her now, she did notice that she was indeed a good head taller than her and her figure was filled out. "I thought you were younger…."

"So does everyone, not really sure why though." She confessed, clueless to the obvious answer. "Now let's get back on our way!" She cheered and took a step in the direction they'd previously been heading before all three heard an odd sound.

"What's that!?" Kalisity shouted and eyed with scrutiny the direction it had come from. It sounded like growling of two different pitched voices. One low, one high. The trio crept over to the source of the sound, peering over a bundle of bushes to see what the commotion was. In front of them was Sparky guarding another Pikachu which had an oversized white and pink poker-dotted bow on her forehead. Lola was about to call out and question Sparky what he was doing out here, when she heard a low and ferocious growl come from a different direction. All eyes went in search for it, finding an angered feraligator to be the source.

"Eeh? A Feraligator, but we don't get them around here? How on earth?" Kalisity mumbled in shock.

"Sparky get over here." Lola gritted between clenched teeth, she'd left him with Alex; she'd never though once that he'd sneak out. But he did not move, instead he threatened the Feraligator with a shot of sparks. He was protecting the other Pikachu she realised, which was most certainly a bizarre sight for the violent creature.

"Do you know that Pikachu, Lola?" Kalisity asked in a hushed tone.

"Yes, his name is Sparky. He's my friend, I hadn't realised he'd snuck out."

"Well thanks, Princess would have no chance against that thing-" Just as she was about to finish that sentence Char jumped out at the Feraligator and death-stared it, he put up a protective barrier between it and the Pikachus.

The Feraligator thought little of him and spurted water at him, frightened he dodged, remaining jittery after landing. Lola swore under her breath when it occurred to her he'd be too nervous to protect them now, Kalisity must have noticed this too, since she was digging through her pockets looking for a poke ball.

"Man! I left them all at home! What are we going to do now?" For the two girls things seemed hopeless, until a voice familiar called out from somewhere in the darkness,

"Entei get him!" Suddenly a huge dog like creature appeared from the shadows and tackled the Pokémon to the ground. It only had to look the feraligator in the face for fear to take root in its eyes. Horrified, the Feraligator squirmed out from under him and ran off into the night. Kalisity-Charise and Lola stared slack-jawed at the creature in front of them standing confidently as he inspected those who stood around him. Char and the two pikachus shared the reaction, only from their eyes shone fright. Unexpectedly, Bagon ran out of the shadows and jumped onto Lola's back, she screamed in alarm before seeing it was only him.

"Bagon? Why are you…" She mumbled, unable to finish the sentence. He looked embarrassed for a reason she was unable to understand. As she gazed at his face to try to see what was hiding behind his eyes, Alex ran past them down to the dog Pokémon without a hint of fear. He patted the side of his head, nodding and saying,

"Good job." He turned back to see the two girl's staring at him, Lola's eyes immediately went to the amulet around his neck, finding it had faded like hers had when she had summoned Zapdos.

"How…ha…eh?" She fainted from shock.

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><p>In the shadows of the night a great bird descended from the sky, landing upon the roof of the city's tallest building. A lone woman stood waiting, as a girl and an Umbreon with a strange appearance got off the bird. The woman went to greet her and the Pokémon, after they were a fair distance away from the flaming bird.<p>

"Oh Sania it's been ages!" The woman cried joyfully, pulling her into a hug. She was thusly pushed away, as Sania moved past her, heading for the stairs. Umbreon walked in pace with her, and she returned Moltrace to the amulet.

"Aoi, Aoi, Aoi, the same as always I take it? Your brother is his same crazy self too I believe. I checked."

The woman, Aoi was a tall with a full figure. Her hair was a silky brown laced with strands of differing shades of blue. Her fair skin was perfect asides from a mole underneath her left eye. Blue eyes shone out from the centre of her face, with soft pink lips below them. Her outfit was a black jacket so long it ended half way down her thighs, leaving the rest of her clothes invisible beneath it. She also wore a pair of rose-patterned elbow-length lace gloves and knee high boots.

"Oh you know Akai, he's such a weirdo. But I love him anyway. So what brings you back here dear Sania, that phone call gave me bore near nought information wise." She chuckled, her tone as cheerful as her character.

"Akai gave me some wonderful information, have you word of it yet?" Sania questioned, slipping into Aoi's way of speaking, not intentionally, but all who met the woman did it at some point. They began descending the staircase.

"No he's not spoken to me for quite some time. What be this 'wonderful information' my dearie?"

"That so? You'd think he'd speak to his sister first." Sania paused for a moment, in thought perhaps, she was difficult to decipher. "There were two children he versed a little over a week ago, they had the amulets."

"The kyoudo amulets? Surely you jest, that can't be true!?" Aoi gasped, stricken with sheer disbelief.

"Oh it's true, my dear Aoi. He did not get a good look of the boy, so we haven't any idea which one he has possession of, but the girl summoned a Zapdos on him. So not only do we know what she has, but that she has no control of the damn thing too. Course, she won't gain control, not ever." Sania stated, one hundred per cent sure of herself.

"Why, what makes you say that?" Aoi tilted her head, wondering. "You can't possibly know everything, even if it is you."

"Well I know for sure that it will be that way with this girl. It was Lola who Akai versed. My 'dear little sister'." She laughed, mockingly of course. Aoi joined in, but not for the mocking part, the woman just sincerely did love to laugh.

"And I'd have to say that the boy was Alex. He's a friend of hers, closest human to her I'd say. When it's only that stupid Char that beats him that's saying a lot, my sister cares for him more than her own family. And going off this belief, I also believe that the others, her friends that is, are the others with the Kyoudo. I know that she saw me go into the cave, she was always curious as to what was in there since I never spoke of it. She was bound to wander in one day; it's a bonus that she dragged her friends in with her. Now it'll be easy getting them out of the way, they'll all be wimps. The only one who'll be any bother is Issun . I fought him just as I started my journey and he did indeed beat me. Though I'm sure it'll never happen again for I was so weak then, and I am now strong."

"We can make Shiro take him on then, she's sure to win."

"Grand idea. Though I wouldn't mind getting my revenge, she'll have him on his knees before he can blink. She's the only person I know that surpasses me, how she isn't in the elite four is beyond me; she deserves every bit to be the champion. Even I have to admit that." She spat, she was not as self-obsessed as her sister, but being at her strength, it was peculiar to even meet someone who could dare rival her.

"Yes grand idea. So our plan will come into action soon I take it?" Aoi cheered.

"Not soon enough." Was Sania's reply as they reached the end of the staircase, and left the building without anyone knowing they were ever there."

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><p><strong>Done nyan. Aoi is adorable. Kalisity is nuts. Jya ne.<strong>

**~Serah Villiers Valentine**


	11. What was that?

**(2,668 words) This could be much better but it did what it needed and that's what counts. Plus I'm not surprised that it is not as good as could be, I was writing the last chapter of another story at the same time, sixteen thousand words, six weeks to write. I went mad.**

**Enjoy**

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><p><em>11) What was that?<em>

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><p>Lola's eyes slowly fluttered open. All she could see above her was darkness; at first she was confused, before realising she was staring up at the sky. She wondered for a moment what just happened, why she was on the ground in the first place. It came to her in parts, how she was helping some weird girl called Kalisity-Charise find her Pikachu whom she'd named for whatever reason 'Princess'. And when they'd found her, she was with Sparky who had apparently gotten out somehow or another. But to make things worse, a feraligator was after them, and unfortunately it'd scared Char off fighting it. Just when they thought things were hopeless this weird Pokémon showed up and dealt with the problem. Only it appeared that this weird Pokémon was with Alex…<p>

With a sudden movement, she jumped up. When she was standing she noticed that she'd scared the people around her. Alex and that Kalisity woman were still there, it was possible they'd been talking before, but right now their eyes were directed her way. She spotted Char and Sparky down the hill with Princess clinging to the other pikachu's side. The weird pokemon was still down there, Char was inspecting him, seeing if he was friendly or not. The Charmeleon was calm enough, so that told Lola that nothing was wrong. But something had to be wrong, Alex's amulet had faded like hers had when she'd summoned Zapdos, meaning that whatever that thing was it was a Kyoudo pokemon. But since when did Alex know how to handle one? The only way to find that out was to ask.

She turned her head to Alex, who jumped; she'd stayed in the exact same spot for long enough that he no longer expected movement from her.

"What was that?" Lola screamed at Alex, pointing an accusing finger at him. She hadn't meant to be so loud, but anger had risen in her faster than she'd cared to notice. She was jealous she reckoned, that he'd beaten her. And it annoyed her so, that he hadn't said anything, and instead had chosen to remain silent.

"I'm sorry, I knew I should have at least said something, but it occurred to me that if this was something out of your abilities you'd hate me for surpassing you. So I kept my tongue. I know thinking back on it that it was a bad idea, but I couldn't help but go through with it." He did appear to be wholly apologetic, but another thing bothered her more than just him being able to control that thing down the hill.

"You knew what the crystals were from the get-go, didn't you? You knew about the Kyoudo Pokémon all along and you said nothing. Why?" Lola's anger did not subside.

"Someone told me about them years ago. But I didn't believe them, especially since they said they believed they were hidden somewhere in Lumi forest. But when I saw what was in that cave, I knew it wasn't a lie, I knew they were the Kyoudo Pokémon that people said only existed in stories. I didn't want it to harm me, so in secret after you and Char fell asleep I trained. I would have said something but then it occurred to me that there was no way you'd ever control it. You're too nice when it comes to Pokémon. You'd try to befriend it, and if you kept it up you'd probably die. I decided it was best you didn't try. I don't want you to get hurt."

Lola glared deeply at him, she did not lighten up, but then again, he didn't expect her to. It was one of the worst aspects of her personality, but she couldn't stand to be beaten, it'd make her feel worthless. And to make it all worse, he'd lied to her to. She had no reason not to be angry with him. She stepped closer to him, and without a word, slapped him on the cheek as hard as she could. She stepped around the two people on the ground and called out to the Pokémon down the hill.

"Oi, Char, Sparky. Come." It was an order. Though sparky didn't notice and tried to continue bugging the strange new arrival. Char understood Lola's sour mood and dragged him away with him. The remaining Pikachu tried to follow them but Kalisity grabbed her and set her down on her lap instead.

When Lola was gone Alex returned his pokemon to the amulet. Chains of gold the colour of the sun and red the colour of a flame burst out of the dulled crystal. They wrapped around Entei and formed into a fiery ball which was brown in the middle. It shrunk until it was the size of a poke-ball and returned to the amulet which in turn returned to its original colours.

A moment of silence passed until Kalisity burst out with, "You know I have no idea what I just walked in on, but it certainly seems interesting."

She finished as Alex stood up. "It's better that you don't tell anyone what just happened. Who's to say the world has changed since the Kyoudo were last free. I'd rather no one knows about us. So please, keep your mouth shut or I'll make you regret it." His tone was as cold as ice, and it made the girl shiver. It was the last thing she'd expected of the kid. His bagon climbed up onto him shoulder and together they left.

* * *

><p>Lola sat down and grumbled, with her knees pulled close to her chest. In her anger she'd stormed off, stupidly, in an area she was unfamiliar with, and to make it worse in almost complete darkness. She'd stumbled a fair number of times. She'd run some distance into the field next to the town, the specific area she was in was on the outskirts of it and was dotted with a fair number of trees. She sat with her back against a large rock, smaller ones littered the area. Char and Sparky followed at a distance, in consideration of her anger. She was not nice when she was in such a mood, Char knew this better than anyone for he was the one who would calm her down, the only other who'd ever dared was her older brother Muhro. Sparky had spent most of the time in his poke-ball since Lola and Alex had left Acacia town, but from the times Lola and Char visited him when they were all younger he'd long since learnt how unreasonable she was in a bad mood.<p>

"I can't believe him. Not only did he not say anything, but he didn't even hint anything, same with Bagon. They've never lied about something so big to me before, why now? How for that matter? I know they're not good when it comes to lying, what the hell's up with the sudden talent for it?"

Sparky shrugged his shoulders as he climbed up upon a large rock by Lola's shoulder. She patted him on his head, thanking him for the company. She turned to Char then, who'd sat down on the ground opposite her.

"Char, is it just me? Did you think anything was up, notice anything at all?" She questioned; her voice desperate and pleading. She wanted it to have just been her, she wanted there to have been signs, a lot of them. Because if that was so, then it meant that he was having trouble lying to them all. If there were no signs, then it meant it didn't bother him as much as it should've, or she was thinking too deeply in.

The Charmeleon shook his head, even he, the smartest in the group, hadn't picked up on anything wrong in Alex's behaviour, and Bagon's too. But Bagon wasn't really a concern, he was eternally loyal to Alex, he'd do anything for him even if it made him sad. Even Char did not have that ability, he cared for Lola with all his heart, but if she was wrong she was wrong, he would make the correct decision, not the one she chose for him.

"Well isn't this just fun? Alex beat me, and it's not that I suck it's that I can't do it at all. That's a first. I wish he'd said something at least. Then maybe I wouldn't feel so bad." She smiled sadly, it was a little funny, this was something he'd always go out of his way to avoid. Her expression begun to alter in the coming minutes, till soon enough it was a determined one. Char's eyes narrowed with suspicion fuelled by his worry.

"I should try it the way Akai said. It can't be a friend or companion or anything like that, if I have to be its master I'll be its master. It'll make me sad to begin with, but maybe I'll get used to it and then I won't care."

Char and Sparky glanced sideways at each other, thinking of the same thing. 'No way in hell is she trying that again'. The Zapdos was out of her control, that was something she had to come to accept, but being Lola, that acceptance wasn't going to come easily. They should've expected this they realised, that the moment Alex or any of the others achieved control over a Kyoudo, the want to do the same will fill her. Before Lola even noticed what either were doing, Sparky jumped up onto her shoulder, took hold of the necklace with his mouth, removed it from around her neck and jumped off the other shoulder. The weight of the amulet left him unsteady on his feet for a second but as soon as he adjusted he threw it up to Char and both Pokemon made a run for it.

It was after all of this, that what just happened registered with Lola. She stared slack-jawed at the escaping duo. "The hell? They just stole the crystal…." It was a minute after the words left her lips that the idea to go after them occurred to her and she begun with the chase.

* * *

><p>Lola chased them across the midnight black field they had ended up in, but not so long after the chase had begun did her speed slow and her feet hit the ground unsteadily. She had exhausted herself earlier from storming off as she had. Though it annoyed her greatly, the two had been smart and took complete advantage of this fact. It didn't take long for them to be out of sight and her no longer able to follow. She fell to the ground when her legs couldn't take it anymore. Groaning, she pulled herself into a sitting position and tried to catch her breath. Her chest ached something terrible and just moving was a pain. She'd managed to calm down a little after storming off, but now she felt just as bad as she had earlier. Deciding that staying here and relaxing would calm her down the quickest, she did just that. She'd find them later anyway, what did it matter?<p>

Of course her plan to relax didn't work very well either as not even five minutes in, a voice she'd quickly became familiar with called out, "Ooi, Lola? You here? Loola!?" Edging her head to the left to change her line of sight, she spotted Kalisity-Charise not far off. Seeing no real point in hiding, Lola sat up and the girl found her near immediately thanks to their close proximity.

"Oh, there you are. Me and Alex were looking for you, those relatives of his forced him to stay inside after a while though so I'm the only one looking now. "

"That's fine I guess." Lola said as she stood up. Kalisity walked over to her and stood by her side. She didn't have her Pikachu with her, and was completely alone.

"You should hurry up and go back, you're not too angry I hope."

"No, I'm alright. Loosing Char and Sparky didn't help but I'm still more or less fine." She wasn't fine, but making her sound fine would hopefully cause Kalisity to say less.

"You lost them did you? That's fine, since I saw them when I was coming over here. They should be with Alex by now judging from the direction they were heading in. They had something on them too, but I don't know what." Kalisity turned silent as she thought, wondering what it could be that they had.

"They stole my amulet and ran off. Smart, but it's annoying. Didn't help my mood, I can tell you that."

"That does sound annoying." Kalisity agreed, nodding. They both went silent for a moment before the older girl said with a troubled tone of voice, "I won't say anything about what I saw. Frankly I guess I shouldn't say anything about seeing you two at all, that'll make it easier."

"Oh, you don't have to if it's too much of a both-" Lola begun to say but was stopped by Kalisity saying.

"No, Alex told me not to." Her lips were drawn to a thin line. "He said if I don't he'll make me regret it and then he left. I went looking for you after that and he did too, I saw him. It wouldn't be a bother to make sure I say nothing about meeting you, what bothers me is the tone he used with me." She tilted her head downwards the slightest bit to look Lola directly in the eyes. "It was cold, so very cold. I think he meant it."

Lola stared at her like she was crazy for a full minute, and then burst into a fit of laughter. "What? You sure you weren't hearing things? Alex wouldn't do that. He's not that kind of person. He's a good guy." She shook her head, just claiming he could say something mean like that was crazy. Kalisity really was mad.

"No rea-"

"Don't." Lola commanded. She wasn't angry; she just found it funny, and pointless. "I've known him all my life; I know what type of person he is. So don't lie to me; that just ain't right." she turned and left in the direction Kalisity had come from, predicting it to be the way back to the town.

"Hey," Kalisity-Charise called out before she was too far away to be heard. "You'll be leaving soon enough right?

"Yes, we'll stay for another day and then we're off. We're going to get the second badge. No point in sticking around here anyway."

"That's good. I wish you luck." Kalisity's tone was joyful; she'd purposely erased the sad tone she'd used before. She didn't want to leave on a bad note. She ran past Lola who was walking thanks to her exhaustion. "I hope we can meet again Lola."

"Same." She didn't mean it, but didn't want to needlessly upset the weird girl. She didn't want to see her again, not after that silly little lie she'd told about Alex. What type of person did Kalisity think she was?

* * *

><p>When she got back to town she ran into Alex, who'd snuck out to try and find her, she told him that she was fine and not to worry. He didn't take her seriously, but if she was being reasonable enough he was content with waiting for her to calm down and be happy again. At the house they were staying at she found Sparky and Char, who unsurprisingly had hidden her amulet somewhere in the house. When she asked Char, he gave her a rare grin, when she asked Sparky he pointed to his open mouth, which she took to be him saying he ate it. She quickly realised that questioning was useless so she decided to wait for them to reveal its location themselves. They'd have to soon enough, since they weren't staying here forever.<p>

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><p><strong>Hoped you enjoyed, not much but the next should be longer.<strong>

**Reviews shall be much appreciated.**

**~Serah Villiers Valentine**


	12. Long time no see

**(5,506 words) I was so distracted while writing this, I hope it's alright.**

**Hope you enjoy.**

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><p><span>12) Long time no see<span>

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><p>On the day of their departure from the small town, the sun was out and there was nary a cloud in the sky. A soft wind blew through the grass, bringing with it a sweet scent.<p>

Lola didn't say much, and Alex didn't at all since he had no need to reply to her. The quiet between them was unusual, and had their Pokémon worried. But Baygon was too scared to comment on it, and Char had resolved to let them settle the problem themselves. The girl was still upset about him beating her in learning how to control a Kyoudo Pokémon, and that he lied and kept it a secret from her. Char supposed that he was waiting for her to fully calm down before he said anything more on the subject, but being in a sour mood, Lola took it as him being rude. Char had taken Lola's amulet, and had it secured around his neck, if she tried to swipe it off him he would blow a puff of smoke in her face and while she was distracted he'd put distance between them.

They caught a ride on a cart that a traveller's Rhyhorn was pulling around. The man was apparently taking a tour of the region with his young children, but they were too small to walk around everywhere, so that was where the cart had come in. It offered them rest, since by the time they'd run in to the man and his family, they'd already been walking for half an hour. They could see the city in the distance, but still had a ways to go.

The children asked them many questions, but mostly occupied themselves poking Char's cheeks. The two oldest, twin girls seemed to adore the colour red.

Soon enough, they were nearing the city. Alex and Lola had to get off because the family intended to visit relatives in a small town nearby, they'd be visiting the city tomorrow. They thanked the man and walked off as the cart was pulled away from sight.

* * *

><p>Kingyo city wasn't a large city, but it was lively one. People bustled around all over the place; children darted around their feet, causing Lola to almost fall over a number of times. Her and Alex ate lunch at a small café they found, before finding themselves a hotel, they decided they would stay for two full days and leave on the third, one as a break see the sights, and the other to Verse the gym leader. Lola knew she should be taking things easy, but she was unsure if she could win. Char had offered that tomorrow they should go outside the city and train for a while; she knew it was a good idea, but was reluctant to agree because they were meant to be taking a break. After going over it with her other Pokémon, they decided it was a good idea, she wondered if getting another Pokémon would help, Mini and Char agreed that possibly it would, but Sparky was against it. They took that as Sparky being Sparky, someone who doesn't like being around many others, and didn't count his vote.<p>

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><p>The next day, Lola left early with Char, and found the closest exit to Kingyo, one that led into a small woodland. They knew the gym leader had fire types, so she considered if she was to gain a new friend, that they should be a water type. But unfortunately, no such Pokémon hanged about the streams that lined the place, and certainly none were found amidst the trees and bushes. So they busied themselves fighting against any wild Pokémon they saw until Mini and Sparky collapsed onto a large rock. Char, slightly out of breath and less sure footed then earlier, sat by them. He was stronger than the both of them, and even if he wasn't, he still would be stubborn enough to not let it show. Her legs sore from walking around all day, she sat beside the two little Pokémon, legs dangling by Char's head.<p>

"Aaahhh." She sighed exasperatedly, before leaning back onto the rock, and staring up at the green canopy, watching leaves snap off and be swept off in the wind before they could reach her. "You guys alright?" She half asked it to make sure they weren't dying and half because she was curious if they thought they were ready. The later part she was sure only Char would get.

As she predicted he nodded, letting a short 'Cha' slip out. It was whispery, making him sound like an exhausted mess, but Lola knew it was merely him being quiet. He was not in top shape, but not completely out of breath either. It seemed to her that he was confident in his own ability; he thought that he himself could fight against maybe even the third or fourth gym leader if he had some help, though he was smart enough to know that was pushing it. From his concerned expression, his sister knew that his worry was directed to the two small Pokémon napping on the rock. By himself, he could defeat a few of the gym leader's Pokémon, but he'd have to be a much higher level to defeat a bunch of Pokémon by himself, even if his strength was higher than them. The task was too much for one alone. Sparky had his craziness which he unleashed on everything he came across, it gave him the element of surprise, so he was good to call in first, but it wouldn't last forever, and the gym leader would adjust to the fact that their opponent's Pikachu was a nutcase, and learn to defeat it. Mini was small, and he wasn't very strong or fast. His long tail could be both a hindrance and an advantage. All felt that for now it was a hindrance.

Today Lola had focussed on him, knowing he needed the most help. But they were still unsure what he could do for them. If he was still the same, then he wouldn't be much use, and they had to hope that now she could use Char in this battle, that he would give her the push that would give her the win. They had to hope, for it was all they had.

"Do you think we should keep going?" Lola asked, ten minutes into the rest, as she split leaves in two.

Char nodded his head, confident enough that he was fine, and perhaps Sparky as well. Mini not as much, but his power would increase too slowly here.

"Do you think I should find another? It will be a help won't it?" She sounded unsure of herself. She wanted to win so badly, and she wanted to do without interruption, but she didn't know if was possible with only three Pokémon on her side.

Char paused for a moment, to think into it, but shook his head. This wasn't the best area, the Pokémon were weak and wouldn't be much of a help.

Lola had to agree, it'd become obvious throughout the day. "Kay then. How 'bout we wake up the other two and head back?"

To this Char nodded, agreeing that was the best choice of action.

* * *

><p>Back at Kingyo she took them to a Pokémon centre to make sure they were in good health. After this she returned to the hotel for a rest. In the afternoon, with Sparky and Mini back in their poke-balls, her and Char went sightseeing around the city.<p>

They played with some children in a park, had a small snack from a café and wandered around for an hour or so. When they met up with Alex they had dinner near the café they'd ate at earlier and caught up with what they'd done for the day. He wasn't surprised when they told him they'd been training. He'd muttered something about 'Lola being Lola' and that was that.

The day following, they went to the gym as planned, Alex went in first, she wished him good luck before sitting against a wall and waited impatiently with Char by her side trying to catch dust motes to amuse himself. She watched him do it for a time, thinking how odd it looked coming from him, it was so childish, and he was the most mature and rational person/Pokémon she'd ever met. After observing for a while, she joined in with him. So when Alex exited the arena and walked back to her, he was greeted by quite a sight.

Char and Lola, with an expression of deep concentration, swatting their arms around with their hands in the shape of crab-claws.

"What the…?" He raised an eyebrow.

At this, Lola noticed his presence and got up to greet him ecstatically, until she noticed the strange creature standing behind him. Her broad smile turned into a traumatized look and she dashed behind Char, using him as a human shield.

"What the hell is that!?" She cried in shock, pointing an accusing finger to the weird white thing she could see between the gap in Alex's legs.

Char looked on indifferently, and Alex looked at her strangely before calmly turning to look at what she was referring to.

"Oi yeah." He grinned and laughed it off, before pointing a finger to it, "Yeah, he evolved."

"What Baygon!? Into that? But he was so cute before. Now he can't even fit onto your shoulder." She was in hysterics.

"He barely fit on there to begin with, that was him being stubborn…." He looked to Char, hoping the Charmeleon would know a solution, but he shook his head, showing he didn't.

"So he's a Shellgon now? Char used to be a Charmander, he was adorable back then too, I wouldn't call him that now." Char frowned at that sentence, and grunted, making a puff of smoke come out of his nostrils.

"But Char is all cool now, and that makes up for it." She hugged him around the neck, looking happy. Char didn't react, as he expected she would do so at one point.

Alex paused, drained. Thinking of any possible way to make her calm down and shut up before she dragged on for too long. She still had a gym leader to verse. So he said what he thought was the best way to make her feel bad.

He pointed to Shellgon and said plain faced, "You're making him feel bad." He didn't think that was true, he thought that the Pokémon had but it down to Lola being stuck going nuts and had already chose to ignore the words that came out of her mouth, but his words were effective against the girl, so Shellgon made no complaint.

The colour drained from Lola's face, and in an instant, dragged herself over to Shellgon's side and hugged him tightly, rubbing her face against the white shell, holding back tears. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't mean to be mean, I got stuck, you surprised me. I apologise, I'm sorry!"

Alex, Shellgon and Char all sighed. "Good you apologised. Now I think you have a gym leader to beat." Alex laughed; he chose to say 'beat' over 'verse' in hopes to inspire confidence in her.

Excitedly she nodded and ran over to the door, when Char didn't follow, it occurred to her. "Wait, I never asked, did you win?"

Alex smirked and held up the badge. "She's a little strange, but not impossible to beat."

If she wasn't so impatient she might have asked what he meant by strange, but instead, the moment Char had caught up to her, she swung the doors open and stepped inside.

* * *

><p>The arena was coloured a deep red, that reminded Lola of a volcano. It caught Char's attention right away, she knew he liked the colour, it made him think of flames and lava, and those were things that comforted him. She strode forth, and stood by the barrier that stopped her from going any further into the area, and would shield her from the battle. At the end was a place set up similarly, except inside it was a grand chair, cushioned and with a large back that towered over everything nearby, decorated with swirls that she was unsure whether they reminded her of flames or waves.<p>

Sitting on this chair, cross legged with her hands resting neatly on her thighs, was a grinning woman wearing a trench coat that hid away the clothes underneath. On her arms were elbow length black rose patterned lace gloves, and on her feet she wore knee high leather boots black as ebony, with fiery red platforms. She wore her long brown hair up in a hair pony tail; her fringe however was streaked different shade of blue and some white. Her eyes were a watery blue, which were the prettiest she'd ever seen; below them were a set of soft pink lips.

Besides the blue eyes, she bore a great resemblance to Akai; it annoyed her a little, for Char a lot. He growled at the sight of her.

The gym leader took a moment to take them in, then her face broke into a broad smile, and she leapt out of the chair screaming,

"HAH! It's a Charmeleon!"

Lola paused, wide eyes. She'd expected a gym leader to act less…immature. That type of behaviour was for someone like her, not someone like what should be in front of her. It'd taken her by surprise, but it had annoyed Char further. He let out a lick of flame as a threat.

"Aaw, don't like me much little guy?" She pouted; bringing her hands close to her face and making her knees face each other. It was a look of an innocent and shy girl scared. Lola wondered if it was an act. "Well, it's quite alright, my Pokémon all love me, and I adore them dearly, so I suppose that fully makes up for it! Not everyone is going to love me, no one has that option in their life."

She giggled and dropped back into the throne, which was what Lola had decided she would call the absolutely insane chair the woman was sitting on.

"Lola is it?" I am Aoi; I hope this will be a good fight. I wish you luck." She smiled politely. The other wondered where she'd heard the name, but the main question on her lips was not that, but,

"You look a lot like Akai, do you know him?"

"Oooooh!" Aoi's childlike excitement came back full force. "Oh, you know him!? Wait of course you know him, you wouldn't be here if you didn't" She laughed at herself and whacked herself on the forehead. "Yes, there is most certainly a connection. My dear little Akai is my little brother. By near on five years, quite a gap I've been told. Oh how I adore him. He's a little strange don't you think?"

Strange better fit the woman in front of her, Lola thought, Char decided the same. So also decided that hurrying this along was a good choice.

"Um, don't we have a fight to do?" She asked, shakily.

"Egad! You're right! My, my, I almost forgot, yes, yes, let's get on then." Aoi giggled at herself, before digging a poke-ball out of her coat's pocket, she threw it out onto the arena and out came a Quilava. "Well, let's get started."

Lola frowned, a mite panicky at the idea of the fight. But her hopefulness that she would win won out, and she threw a poke-ball in too, releasing Sparky from the confines of his ball. She had originally decided she would use Mini first, since he was weakest, but chose not to do so, because the opponent would have no idea what was about to happen when the battle begun, the certain element of surprise Sparky had in a fight would be best at the start. This she hoped was true.

It was a perfect moment, just as she had predicted, in fact, Aoi was halfway saying how cute he was, when he latched onto the Quilava's neck and bit down hard. She looked like she'd just been whacked in the face. Her face drained of colour and confusion found a comfortable place in her mind.

"THE HEELLL!?" She screeched, falling down onto her knees. "Quilly! Oh Quilly! Shake him off, shake him off! Save yourself!" She acted overdramatically like Sparky was trying to kill her Quilava. Though there was a slim chance that was quite seriously true, even if he was as strong as the Quilava, he was small. That was his downfall. He was bound to lose his grip eventually.

The Quilava in a panic bucked and bucked, releasing flame from his back, but Sparky dodged them by moving onto its front, and continued tearing at its throat with his mouth and hind legs. Luckily he was not strong enough to do more than scratches. As she had predicted, soon enough the Quilava managed to throw Sparky off, but unfortunately for him and Aoi, the damage was done. It had worn itself out, and was wounded to add to it.

Sparky landed on his feet, grinning, pulse fast from excitement. She heard a crackling sound, and right after Sparky unleashed a thunderbolt on the injured Pokémon. Worn down, it stood no chance, and he was left an unconscious smoking mess.

"Well, that was unexpected." Aoi remarked as the shock of the moment died down. She returned her Pokémon to its ball and picked out another. "But let's hope this can be his downfall." She spun the ball on the tip of her finger before throwing it out into the arena. In a flash, an intimidating Rapidash stood where the Quilava had fainted.

Both Sparky and Lola gulped. This was a bad combination, Aoi knew what to expect now, and the Rapidash was fast, and far larger than Sparky. Using it now was to put the Pikachu at a disadvantage

"Oh dearie? Charge." She ordered in a sing song tune. The Rapidash did was what ordered of her, and charged straight for Sparky, but the move was obvious, and he easily dodged by jumping to the side.

Unfortunately, the Rapidash wasn't an idiot, when Sparky moved she changed course with a sharp turn and charged at his new position. He dodged again, but the margin was far smaller than last. This went on for a while, the repeating charge and dodge, until Sparky couldn't keep it up and was landed a direct hit. He was flung across the room, Lola's scream followed him.

"Sparky!" The worry in her tone was easy to hear. Char looked concerned as well.

Aoi grinned, and ordered the Rapidash to continue. She charged once more, but this time Sparky was not flung, in a weakened state, he clung to her horn for dear life. Lola's eyes went wide when she saw it, she knew Sparky was one stubborn bastard, but she was sure he'd been a goner. He zapped her again and again, as she tried to shake him off. The effects of the thunder did not show, the humans were sure it had had an effect, but not enough to deter her from getting him off of her. After another minute of this, with a big flick of her head, he went flying across the room, landing heavily on the ground, out for the count.

Lola bit her lip, Char tensed, Aoi grinned happily.

"Well? Out with the next one my dear."

Lola nodded solemnly, she'd been hoping that she'd been doing good, Sparky had beaten the first so easily. But now, doubt entered her heart. She dug out Mini's ball from her pocket, whispered him good luck, and threw his ball out into the arena. Mini appeared in a spark of red, shaking his little yellow head as if waking from a daze.

They needed to act immediately, or they were doomed. The Rapidash had used her superior size and speed to beat Sparky, and Mini was even slower and smaller.

She had come up with one way for Mini to have a chance of winning, but they needed good luck to have any success, for they all knew his speed wasn't anything amazing. The Rapidash took him in, before deciding she didn't need to change her pattern, and charged. Mini didn't dodge, since it was unlikely that he would get away without a scratch, but instead wrapped his long tail around the Rapidash's legs, knocking her off her hooves.

She landed roughly, and struggled to return to her feet, but each movement caused Mini to hold on tighter. All the while he zapped her with electricity. Lola didn't know if this would help, but hoped it did. The Rapidash was the stronger of the two, no one doubted that, but she'd been put into a bad position. Eventually, she broke free of Mini's grasp, but after taking the first step, she collapsed from exhaustion. Fainting.

Lola's eyed went wide; she hadn't expected it to be that easy, not after what happened with Sparky. His thunder must have helped is seemed.

"Good game. But we're not done yet, dearie." Aoi congratulated her and she returned the Rapidash to her poke-ball.

Aoi clicked her fingers and from the middle of the arena, a crack opened up, filled with water. Mini jumped back to get out of the way.

"This is just for some fun." She giggled before throwing her third Pokémon into the arena. It landed in the water and swished around. A Finneon. Not the best choice Lola decided. Probably would have been better to have waited for Mini to faint, and then use it, since Char had a phobia of water, and it would have forced her to forfeit most likely. But she kept quiet about this.

The Finneon unleashed a set of water attacks on Mini; he dodged most of them, but was hit by one or two. During this time, he'd moved his tail bit by bit into the water, planning to run electricity through it, a tactic he'd used before to defeat an opponent. He got the tail in the water and begun his plan. But, unfortunately, Aoi picked up on it and sent an order to her Finneon,

"My dear, pull him in!" Before either Lola or Mini could react, the Pokémon had bitten the bulb at the end of Mini's tail and had swum away from the edge, pulling him deep into the water. In a panic, he released zaps of thunder to weaken the Finneon who still had his tail in his mouth, and was spinning in circles, making Mini hit the walls of the artificial pond. In a matter of moments, both were out for the count.

Aoi sighed; she only had one other Pokémon on her, though her opponent was in the same scenario as her. "Well, if it's come to this, I hope there'll be some fun. Don't you agree?"

Lola didn't reply, as she was unsure what exactly the woman was referring to. "Come on, time to end this." She said to Char besides her, full of confidence, he nodded, and strode into the arena.

Aoi giggled and threw her last Pokémon in. Both Char and Lola received quite the surprise, when in front of them, was a slightly smaller, slightly lighter, Charmeleon. It growled, but Char showed cool indifference. He'd never fought one of his own kind, perhaps it was going to be fun.

The Charmeleon dashed right for Char, who side stepped him and dodged in a most fluid movement, before going after him with a head butt to the back of the head. This left the other Charmeleon dazed, but not out for the count. His spun around and released a jet of flame, which Char ducked and jabbed at his stomach with his claws. But this barely deterred the Charmeleon, who kept up the breath. Char decided he'd been too far away to land a proper hit, so he spun while keeping low to the ground to get out of the fire's range, and picked up the Charmeleon's tail and threw him. He was too heavy to get any far distance, but it'd been good enough. Char took in a big great gulp of air and released it as flames at the Charmeleon. Being a fire type, this was not a devastating attack, but did good damage, as it was clear his opponent was not in tip top Shape like in the start of the battle. He rushed at Char and landed a hit on his left shoulder, which stunned him a little, but he got back on track fast and blew smoke as a distraction to give himself some distance. It was at that moment a brilliant idea occurred to him.

He headed through the shield of smoke he'd created and grabbed the other Charmeleon harshly, it took it fully by surprise and left him unable to do anything as Char lifted it up over his shoulder and ran forward fast as could be. When he saw the pond coming closer and closer, he begun to struggle to free himself, but Char's grip remained strong, all the way till the last moment where he let go and threw him into the pond.

Quickly, Aoi returned him to his poke-ball before any real damage could be done. She gasped and sighed and jumped around some to get what just happened through her head. In the meantime Char strolled back to Lola and returned to her side.

"That Charmeleon is scary little one, I severely doubt it needs training for a time surely, trust me!"

"Oh, that's just Char being Char; he's too rational sometimes for him to fail." He'd beaten the battle with a good strategy, and used what he knew as his own weakness to beat the other Charmeleon. It was good going on his part; Lola was amazed he'd even gone near the pond.

Aoi sighed, "Just wow, he surprised me there. But he looks kinda special, so I'm wondering…um…what was I about to say?" She giggled and tilted her head in wonder.

Lola allowed her a moment to think, but nothing was said. "Umm, don't you have to give me the badge, I did win didn't I?" She questioned curiously.

Aoi beamed and nodded. "Yes, yes, I almost forgot. But before that, follow me if it's not too much of a bother."

"Huh?" Lola raised an eyebrow, Char became suspicious.

"Oh no, it's nothing much, no need to worry yourselves." Aoi made a weird sound that was a merge of a laugh and a sigh.

Reluctant, but seeing no real reason for suspicion besides the oddity that was Aoi, they crossed the arena and exited through the same door as Aoi.

They ended up in a hallway, but Aoi didn't move to go to a different location.

"Umm…?" Lola was about to question what on earth was going on, when the woman pointed over to something at the end of the hallway. Lola's eyed opened wide when she spotted an oversized Arcanine dashing down the hall to them. She wanted to cower and run, but something kept her rooted to the ground. The Arcanine, she recognised it, but, that would have to mean…

"Well, long time no see, isn't it? Lola?" A familiar voice spoke up in a light tone of question. Behind the Arcanine, she saw an Umbreon watching her intently, and to its side, the one and only Sania, grinning the odd way Sania always did to her. It was like it was malicious, but Sania wasn't like that.

"Sania!" Lola Yelled in shock, and ran over to meet her, dodging the Arcanine to reach her. When she got there she hugged her big sister tightly, the Umbreon jumping aside, not wanting to go near her. Char followed after her, keeping close behind, watching both human and Pokémon with suspicion. He'd never liked Sania, or her Pokémon, this he had never hidden. Lola was yet to pick up on it however.

"It's been quite a while hasn't it?" Sania looked away, feigning wonder as she thought about it.

"Hell yeah! What are you doing back here?" Lola asked, excitedly.

"I was curious how my little sister fairs in fights. Muhro watched me the first time I versed a gym leader, I know it's the second with yours, I'm quite upset really. "She frowned. It was fake, but Lola was too trusting and stupid to pick up on it.

"So you…saw that?" The colour drained from her face, Sania had just witnessed a fight of hers. But she wasn't good enough yet for Sania to see her, she wasn't allowed to watch her fight, she could only see it when Lola caught up to her, and when it was Sania that she was fighting.

"Oh relax Lola, you won didn't you!? And Char got out with a scratch, that's heaps good! But why did he go in third? Do you only have three Pokémon?"

"Uuh, yeah…" Lola admitted embarrassedly, scratching the nape of her neck.

"Oh, well that's no good. You need more if you want to survive against the Gym leaders. You'll need an extra one or two if you're going to verse Midori you know?" She told her in a commanding type of voice, with a finger pointed at her.

"Midori?" Lola questioned, just wondering who they were referring to.

"He's the next gym leader." Aoi called out from behind them. Lola had forgotten she was there.

"What's he like?" She asked Sania, who had her face go blank.

"He's uh; he's um…fun…." She forced a smile and nodded her head, unconvinced her by her own words.

Wondering what was up, Lola turned to look back at Aoi for an answer, but she was well, nodded her head in a very unconvinced way and also said, "Fun…" With a thumbs up to add to it.

She raised an eyebrow, but decided she would find out herself anyway, so there was no need to continue probing.

She was about to ask Sania more questions, but instead Sania took notice of Lola's amulet, which was currently hanging from around Char's neck. "That's a pretty necklace, where'd you get it?"

"Uh…" She stuttered as she searched for a decent lie. I bought it at a store in Guntara." She didn't sound like she was lying, so she hoped Sania didn't pick up on it.

"Why is it a thunder bolt? Why not a flame? I though you liked fire Pokémon the best?" Her older sister inquired.

"There was none, besides, Sparky liked it, I guess that's something."

"I really can't believe you really have that Pikachu with you." Sania chuckled, the idea amusing her.

"Hey, he's my friend. I'm not leaving him alone. Plus, his psychoticness is kind of handy."

"I saw that." Sania smiled. "Well, it was nice seeing you." She beamed before side stepping around Lola and Char and walking down the hallway.

"Huh? Where you going?" Lola called out in question.

"Oh, I have some things to do; I'll see you later if possible. Bye." She half-heartedly waved before disappearing from view.

Aoi turned to follow after her, but Lola stopped her with.

"Hey, what about the badge?"

Oh! Yeah!" Aoi giggled shakily and headed back over to Lola. She fished the badge from a trench coat pocket and placed it in the girl's hand. "There you go. I wish you good luck against Midori." And with that she toddled off and was gone.

Lola wondered if she should have asked her asked her about Kyoudo Pokémon, to see if she knew anything, considering her little brother happened to, but she chickened out at the last moment. Choosing to forget about it, she left the building and headed for the Pokémon centre, where she'd meet back up with Alex.

* * *

><p><strong>Aoi is fun ne? Midori is even more so. I hope I can write a scene with him soon.<strong>

**Reviews shall be much appreciated.**

**Jya ne,**

**~Serah Villiers Valentine**


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